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her dark eyes flash as she met the steady gaze of the cure's. "In the name of the _Republique Francaise_," began the mayor in measured tones. The cure folded his arms, his eyes fixed on the open door. "Pardon me," interrupted Alice, "I wish it to be distinctly understood before you begin, Monsieur le Maire, that I am here wholly against my will." The cure turned sharply. "You have summoned me," continued Alice, "and there was no alternative but to come--I know nothing in detail concerning the charge against Monsieur le Cure, nor do I wish to take any part whatever in this unfortunate affair. It is imperative that I return to Paris in time to play to-night, I beg of you that you will let me go at once." There was a polite murmur of surprise from the Municipal Council. The cure sprang to his feet. "Alice, my child!" he cried, "look at me." Her eyes met his own, her lips twitching nervously, her breast heaving. "I wish _you_ to judge me before you go," he pleaded. "They accuse me of being a thief;" his voice rose suddenly to its full vibrant strength; "they do not know the truth." Alice leaned forward, her lips parted. "God only knows what this winter has been," declared his reverence--"Empty nets--always empty nets." He struck the table with his clenched fist. "Empty nets!" he cried, "until I could bear it no longer. My children were in dire need; they came to you," he declared, turning to the mayor, "and you refused them." The mayor shrugged his shoulders with a grunt of resentment. "I gave what I could, while it lasted, from the public fund," he explained frankly; "there were new roads to be cut." "Roads!" shouted the cure. "What are roads in comparison to illness and starvation? They came to me," he went on, turning to Alice, "little children--mothers, ill, with little children and not a sou in the house, and none to be earned fishing. Old men crying for bread for those whom they loved. I grew to hate the very thought of the bells; they seemed to me a needless luxury among so much misery." His voice rose until it rang clear in the room. "I gave it to them," he cried out. "There in my little drawer lay the power to save those who were near death from sickness, from dirt, from privation!" Alice's ringless white hands were clenched in her lap. "And I saw, as I gave," continued the cure, "the end of pain and of hunger--little by little I gave, hoping somehow to replace it, until I
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