ord would employ him, under a bishop who knew him, and
would be likely to do him justice. Yet it was some time before he went,
matters not being all arranged.

CHAPTER 13

I then went off from the Ursulines and they sought for a house for me
at a distance from the lake. There was but one to be found empty which
had the look of the greatest poverty. It had no chimney but in the
kitchen, through which one was obliged to pass. I took my daughter with
me and gave up the largest room for her and the maid who was to take
care of her. I was lodged in a little hole on straw, to which I went up
by ladder. As we had no other furniture but our beds, quite plain and
homely, I brought some straw chairs and some Dutch earthen and wooden
ware. Never did I enjoy a greater content than in this little hole,
which appeared so very conformable to the state of Jesus Christ. I
fancied everything better on wood than on plate. I laid in all my
provisions, hoping to stay there a long time; but the Devil did not
leave me long in such sweet peace. It would be difficult for me to tell
the persecutions which were stirred up against me. They threw stones in
at my windows which fell at my feet. I had put my little garden in
order. They came in the night, tore it all up, broke down the arbor,
and overturned everything in it, as if it had been ravaged by soldiers.
They came to abuse me at the door all night long, making such a racket
as if they were going to break it open. These persons have since told
who the person was that put them on such work.

Though from time to time I continued my charities at Gex, I was not the
less persecuted for it. They offered one person a warrant to compel
Father La Combe to stay at Tonon, thinking he would otherwise be a
support to me in the persecution, but we prevented it. I knew not then
the designs of God, and that He would soon draw me from that poor
solitary place, in which I enjoyed a sweet and solid satisfaction,
notwithstanding the abuse. I thought myself happier here than any
sovereign on earth. It was for me like a nest and a place of repose and
Christ was willing that I should be like Him. The Devil, as I have
said, irritated my persecutors. They sent to desire me to go out of the
diocese. All the good which the Lord had caused me to do in it was
condemned, more than the greatest crimes. Crimes they tolerated, but me
they could not endure. All this while I never had any uneasiness or
repentance for