do what he
prompted them to, zealously, inasmuch as they counted it a good thing
to do me the worst of injuries.

One of the sisters whom I had brought with me, a very beautiful girl,
contracted an intimacy with an ecclesiastic, who had authority in this
place. At first he inspired her with an aversion for me, being well
assured that if she placed confidence in me, I should advise her not to
suffer his visits so frequently. She was undertaking a religious
retreat. That ecclesiastic was desirous to induce her to make it, in
order to gain her entire confidence, which would have served as a cloak
to his frequent visits. The Bishop of Geneva had given Father La Combe
for director to our house. As he was going to cause retreats to be
made, I desired her to wait for him. As I had gained some share in her
esteem, she submitted even against her inclination, which was to have
made it under this ecclesiastic. I began to talk to her on the subject
of inward prayer, and drew her into the practice of this duty. Our Lord
gave such a blessing thereto, that this girl gave herself to God in
right earnest, and with her whole heart and the retreat completely won
her over. She then became more reserved, and on her guard, toward this
ecclesiastic, which exceedingly vexed him. It enraged him both against
Father La Combe and me. This proved the source of the persecutions
which afterward befell me. The noise in my chamber, which may have been
traced to him, ended as these commenced.

This ecclesiastic began to talk privately of me with much contempt. I
knew it, but took no notice. There came a certain friar to see him, who
mortally hated Father La Combe, on account of his regularity. These
combined together to force me to quit the house, that they might become
masters of it. All the means they could devise they used for that
purpose.

My manner of life was such, that in the house I did not meddle in
affairs at all, leaving the sisters to dispose of the temporalities as
they pleased. Soon after my entrance into it I received eighteen
hundred livres, which a lady, a friend of mine, lent me to complete our
furniture, which I had repaid her at my late giving up of my estate.
This sum they received, as well as what I had before given them. I
sometimes spoke a little to those who retired thither to become
Catholics. Our Lord favored with so much benediction what I said to
them, that some, whom they knew not before what to make of, became
sensibl