he olive branch
which is there, before I can recall to myself anything that resembles
the feeling with which I re-entered that sanctuary. My grandfather's
bureau still stands in the middle of my library, where I found it on my
return; but I have got used to it, and it no longer affects me.
Everything is as it was; and I cannot persuade myself that, for a time,
I and mine were shut out, and our places taken by those who neither eat
nor drink, and whose life is invisible to our eyes. Everything, I say,
is as it was--every thing goes on as if it would endure for ever. We
know this cannot be, yet it does not move us. Why, then, should the
other move us? A little time, we are aware, and we, too, shall be as
they are--as shadows, and unseen. But neither has the one changed us,
and neither does the other. There was, for some time, a greater respect
shown to religion in Semur, and a more devout attendance at the sacred
functions; but I regret to say this did not continue. Even in my own
case--I say it with sorrow--it did not continue. M. le Cure is an
admirable person. I know no more excellent ecclesiastic. He is
indefatigable in the performance of his spiritual duties; and he has,
besides, a noble and upright soul. Since the days when we suffered and
laboured together, he has been to me as a brother. Still, it is
undeniable that he makes calls upon our credulity, which a man obeys
with reluctance. There are ways of surmounting this; as I see in Agnes
for one, and in M. de Bois-Sombre for another. My wife does not
question, she believes much; and in respect to that which she cannot
acquiesce in, she is silent. 'There are many things I hear you talk of,
Martin, which are strange to me,' she says, 'of myself I cannot believe
in them; but I do not oppose, since it is possible you may have reason
to know better than I; and so with some things that we hear from M. le
Cure.' This is how she explains herself--but she is a woman. It is a
matter of grace to yield to our better judgment. M. de Bois-Sombre has
another way. '_Ma foi_,' he says, 'I have not the time for all your
delicacies, my good people; I have come to see that these things are for
the advantage of the world, and it is not my business to explain them.
If M. le Cure attempted to criticise me in military matters, or thee, my
excellent Martin, in affairs of business, or in the culture of your
vines, I should think him not a wise man; and in like manner, faith and
religion, th