I maintain that the
republic is just, and that the worship of reason is worth them all!"
and so on.

The people were indignant. There never was anything like it! When he
had finished speaking, I looked at Mr. Goulden, who laughed softly, and
said: "Listen! listen!"

Of course I listened; the young preacher prayed to God for this
infidel, and then he spoke so beautifully that the crowd was entranced.
The big thin man replied, saying, "They had done right to guillotine
Louis XVI., Marie Antoinette, and all the family." The indignation
increased, and the men from Bois-de-Chenes, and especially their wives,
wanted to get into the pew to knock him down, but just then Sirou came
up, crying "Room! room!" and old Koekli in his red gown threw himself
before the man, who escaped into the sacristy, raising his hands to
heaven and declaring that he was converted, and that he renounced the
devil and all his works. Then the preacher made a prayer for the soul
of the sinner. It was a real triumph for religion.

Everybody left about eleven o'clock, and it was announced that there
would be a procession the next day, which was Sunday.

In consequence of the great crowd, which had pushed us into the corner,
Mr. Goulden and I were among the last to get out, and by the time we
reached the street, the people from Quatre Vents and the other villages
were already beyond the German gate, and nothing was heard in the
streets but the closing of the shutters by the townspeople, and a few
old women talking about the wonderful things they had heard, as they
went home by the rue de l'Arsenal.

Father Goulden and I walked along in the silence, he with his head bent
down and smiling, though without speaking a word. When we reached home
I lighted the candle, and while he was undressing asked:

"Well! Father Goulden, did they preach well?"

"Yes," he replied smiling, "yes, for young men who have seen nothing,
it was not bad." Then he laughed aloud and said, "But if old Colin had
been in the Jacobin's place, he would have puzzled the young man
terribly." I was greatly surprised at that, and as I still waited to
hear what more he had to say, he slowly pulled his black silk cap over
his ears and added thoughtfully, "but it's all the same; all the same.
These people go too fast, much too fast. They will never make me
believe that Louis XVIII. knows about all this. No, he has seen too
much in his life not to know men better than that. But