I am conscious that there was a sneer in my voice, but I was too much
excited to think of politeness. He gave me another of his rapid, keen
looks.

'M. le Maire,' he said, 'you are injurious to a man who is as little
fond of tricks as yourself.'

His tone, his glance, gave me a certain sense of shame, but I could not
stop myself. 'One knows,' I said, 'that there are many things which an
ecclesiastic may do without harm, which are not permitted to an ordinary
layman--one who is an honest man, and no more.'

M. le Cure made no reply. He gave me another of his quick glances, with
an impatient turn of his head. Why should I have suspected him? for no
harm was known of him. He was the Cure, that was all; and perhaps we men
of the world have our prejudices too. Afterwards, however, as we waited
for M. de Clairon--for the crisis was too exciting for personal
resentment--M. le Cure himself let drop something which made it apparent
that it was the ladies of the hospital upon whom his suspicions fell.
'It is never well to offend women, M. le Maire,' he said. 'Women do not
discriminate the lawful from the unlawful: so long as they produce an
effect, it does not matter to them.' This gave me a strange impression,
for it seemed to me that M. le Cure was abandoning his own side.
However, all other sentiments were, as may be imagined, but as shadows
compared with the overwhelming power that held all our eyes and our
thoughts to the wonder before us. Every moment seemed an hour till M. de
Clairon appeared. He was pushed forward through the crowd as by magic,
all making room for him; and many of us thought that when science thus
came forward capable of finding out everything, the miracle would
disappear. But instead of this it seemed to glow brighter than ever.
That great word '_Sommation_' blazed out, so that we saw his figure
waver against the light as if giving way before the flames that
scorched him. He was so near that his outline was marked out dark
against the glare they gave. It was as though his close approach
rekindled every light. Then, with a flicker and trembling, word by word
and letter by letter went slowly out before our eyes.

M. de Clairon came down very pale, but with a sort of smile on his face.
'No, M. le Maire,' he said, 'I cannot see how it is done. It is clever.
I will examine the door further, and try the panels. Yes, I have left
some one to watch that nothing is touched in the meantime, with the
permissio