ll known,
to me, among others. Had this letter, perchance, something to do with
an expedition which you two young people made to search for flowers,
and nothing else? Ah! I see it is so. Then you may safely show it to
me, since I know all about that expedition."

So Godfrey produced the epistle, for at the moment he forgot that it
contained allusions to Madame also, and holding it gingerly between his
thumb and finger, handed it to him. The Pasteur read it through without
showing the slightest emotion.

"Ah!" he said, when he had finished, "in her way she is quite
magnificent, that old witch. But, surely, one day, unless she repents,
she will be accommodated with some particular hell of her own, since
there are few worthy to share it with her. You see, my boy, what she
says about Madame. Well, as I think I told her, that dear wife of mine
may have had her foolish moments, like most others, if all the truth
were known. But note this--there is a great difference between those
who have foolish moments, of whatever sort, and those who make it their
business to seek such moments; further, between those who repent of
their errors and those who glory in, and try to continue them. If you
have any doubt of that study the Bible, and read amongst others, of
David, who lived to write the Psalms, and of Mary Magdalene, who became
a saint. Also, although this did not occur to that tiger of a woman, I
may have known of those moments, and even done my best to help my wife
out of them, and been well rewarded"--here his kind old face beamed
like the sun--"oh! yes, most gloriously rewarded. So a fig for the old
witch and her tales of Madame! And now tell me the truth about yourself
and Juliette, with a mind at ease, for Juliette has told it to me
already, and I wish to compare the stories."

So Godfrey told him everything, and a ridiculous little tale it was.
When he had finished the Pasteur burst out laughing.

"You are indeed sinners, you two," he said, "so great, that surely you
should stand dressed in white sheets, one on either side of the altar,
with the crushed flower in the middle. Ah! that is what I regret, this
flower, for it is very rare. Only once have I found it in all my life,
and then, as there was no lady present, I left it where it grew.
Hearken, all this is a pack of nonsense.

"Hearken again, Godfrey. Everybody things me an old fool. How can it be
helped with such a face as mine, and these blue spectacles, which I