"Hear my confession, and advise me, sustain me, tell me what I am to
do."

He replied: "I hear confessions every Saturday, from three to six
o'clock."

Having seized his arm, she gripped it tightly as she repeated: "No, no,
no; at once, at once! You must. He is here, in the church. He is waiting
for me."

"Who is waiting for you?" asked the priest.

"A man who will ruin me, who will carry me off, if you do not save me.
I cannot flee from him. I am too weak--too weak! Oh, so weak, so weak!"
She fell at his feet sobbing: "Oh, have pity on me, father! Save me, in
God's name, save me!"

She held him by his black gown lest he should escape, and he with
uneasiness glanced around, lest some malevolent or devout eye should see
this woman fallen at his feet. Understanding at length that he could not
escape, he said: "Get up; I have the key of the confessional with me."

And fumbling in his pocket he drew out a ring full of keys, selected
one, and walked rapidly towards the little wooden cabin, dust holes of
the soul into which believers cast their sins. He entered the center
door, which he closed behind him, and Madame Walter, throwing herself
into the narrow recess at the side, stammered fervently, with a
passionate burst of hope: "Bless me father, for I have sinned."

Du Roy, having taken a turn round the choir, was passing down the left
aisle. He had got half-way when he met the stout, bald gentleman still
walking quietly along, and said to himself: "What the deuce is that
customer doing here?"

The promenader had also slackened his pace, and was looking at George
with an evident wish to speak to him. When he came quite close he bowed,
and said in a polite fashion: "I beg your pardon, sir, for troubling
you, but can you tell me when this church was built?"

Du Roy replied: "Really, I am not quite certain. I think within the last
twenty or five-and-twenty years. It is, besides, the first time I ever
was inside it."

"It is the same with me. I have never seen it."

The journalist, whose interest was awakened, remarked: "It seems to me
that you are going over it very carefully. You are studying it in
detail."

The other replied, with resignation: "I am not examining it; I am
waiting for my wife, who made an appointment with me here, and who is
very much behind time." Then, after a few moments' silence, he added:
"It is fearfully hot outside."

Du Roy looked at him, and all at once fancied that he resembled
Fore