ll take, one by one, the commandments of God. Listen
to me and do not be disturbed. Speak very frankly and never fear that you
may say too much.

"'One God alone, thou shalt adore,
And love him perfectly.'

"Have you ever loved anything, or anybody, as well as you loved God? Have
you loved him with all your soul, all your heart, all the strength of
your love?"

Sabot was perspiring with the effort of thinking. He replied:

"No. Oh, no, m'sieu le cure. I love God as much as I can. That is
--yes--I love him very much. To say that I do not love my
children, no--I cannot say that. To say that if I had to choose
between them and God, I could not be sure. To say that if I had to lose a
hundred francs for the love of God, I could not say about that. But I
love him well, for sure, I love him all the same." The priest said
gravely "You must love Him more than all besides." And Sabot, meaning
well, declared "I will do what I possibly can, m'sieu le cure." The abbe
resumed:

"'God's name in vain thou shalt not take
Nor swear by any other thing.'

"Did you ever swear?"

"No-oh, that, no! I never swear, never. Sometimes, in a moment of anger,
I may say sacre nom de Dieu! But then, I never swear."

"That is swearing," cried the priest, and added seriously:

"Do not do it again.

"'Thy Sundays thou shalt keep
In serving God devoutly.'

"What do you do on Sunday?"

This time Sabot scratched his ear.

"Why, I serve God as best I can, m'sieu le cure. I serve him--at
home. I work on Sunday."

The cure interrupted him, saying magnanimously:

"I know, you will do better in future. I will pass over the following
commandments, certain that you have not transgressed the two first. We
will take from the sixth to the ninth. I will resume:

"'Others' goods thou shalt not take
Nor keep what is not thine.'

"Have you ever taken in any way what belonged to another?"

But Theodule Sabot became indignant.

"Of course not, of course not! I am an honest man, m'sieu le cure, I
swear it, for sure. To say that I have not sometimes charged for a few
more hours of work to customers who had means, I could not say that. To
say that I never add a few centimes to bills, only a few, I would not say
that. But to steal, no! Oh, not that, no!"

The priest resumed severely:

"To take one single centime constitutes a theft. Do not do it again.

'False witness thou shalt not bear,
Nor lie in any way.'

"Have y