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Show ' , "-w . ' . arm about his mislreas' neck, and from timo to time lie kissed her on the forehead. fore-head. They animated suddenly the life-lens life-lens landscape which enveloped them like a divine framo mado expressly for this. They seemed, these two, like one being, the being for whom was destined this calm and Kilent night; mid they came up toward the priest like a living answer, tho answer vouchsafed by hit master to his question. lie stood stock still, quite overwhelmed overwhelm-ed and with a beating heart. And 1m thought to nee lrre fcom Bible Ktory like the loves of ltuth and Boaz, the ar-compliHhment ar-compliHhment of the will of the Lord in Hue of those great scenes talked of in the holy bookg. Through his head began to hnm the vereicleg of tho Song of Hongs, the ardent ar-dent cries, the calls of tho body, all the ped upon tho threshold, surprised by such a splendor of moonlight as you seldom see. And since he was endowed with an exalted spirit such a spirit as must have belonged to those dreamy poets, the fathers of the church ho felt himself him-self suddenly distracted, moved by the grand and serene beauty of the pale faced night. In his little garden, quite bathed with tho soft brilliance, his fruit trees, all arow, were outlining in shadow upon tho walk, their slender limbs of wood scarce clothed by verdure, while the giant honeysuckle climbing on the house wall exhaled delicious, sugared breaths, I and seemed to cause to hover through the warm, clear night a perfumed soul. He began -to breathe deep, drinking tho air as drunkards drink their wi;ie, and he walked slowly, being ravished, astounded and almost oblivious of his niece. it was women's love; and he was also conscious of it, of that accursed tenderness tender-ness of their voices when they spoke to him, in their lowered eyes, and in the meekness of their tears when he reproved them. And lie shook his cassock on issuing from tho doors of tho convent, and he went off with long strides, as though he had fled before some danger. He had a niece who lived with her mother in a little house near by. Ho was bent on making her a sister of charity. char-ity. She was pretty, and hairbrained, and r great tease. When the abbe sermonized sermon-ized she laughed, when he was angry at her she kissed him vehemently, pressing press-ing him to her heart, whil j he would seek involuntarily to free himself from this embrace, which, notwithstanding, made him taste a certain sweet jo;., awaking deep within him that sensation of fatherhood which slumbers in every man. passionate poetry of that pfiem which burns with tenderness aud love. And he Baid to himself, "God perhaps has made such nights as this to clothe with the ideal tho loves of men." Ho withdrew before this couple, who went ever arm in arm. Fo" 11 that.it was really his niece; but now he asked himself if he was not about to disobey ( rod. And does not Ood indeed permit love, since be snrrounds it visibly with hplendor such as this? And ho fled in amaze, almost ashamed, as if he hud penetrated into a temple where ho had not tho right to go. Ony De Maupasant. As soon as he came into the open country coun-try he stopped to contemplate the whole plain, so inundated by this caressing i radiance, so drowned in the tender and languishing charm of tho serene nights. At every instant the frogs threw into: space their short metallic notes, and tho distant nightingales mingled with tho j seduction of the moonlight that fitful ( music of theirs which brings no thoughts i but dreams,that light and vibrant melody I of theirs which is coinjxwed of kisses. j The abbe continued his course, his ; courage failing, he knew not why. He j felt, as it were, enfeebled, and suddenly Often he talked to her of God. of his Gad, walking besido her along the footpaths foot-paths through' tho fields. She hardly listened, and looked at the sky, the grass, the flowers, with a joy of living which could be seen in her eyes. Sometimes she rushed forward to catch some flying creature, and, bringing it back, would cry: "Look, my uncle, how pretty it is! I should like to kiss it." And this necessity ne-cessity to "kiss flies" or lilac lxrries worried, irritated and revolted the priest, who saw even in that the ineradicable tenderness which ever springs at the hearts of women. And now one day the sacristan s wife, tv ho kept house for the Abbe Mnrignan, told him very cautiously that his niece had a lover. He experienced a dreadful emotion, and he stood choked with tho soap all over his face, being in the act of shaving. When he found himself able to think and speak once more he cried. "It is not true; you are lyini?, Melanie!" Bnt the peasant woman put her hanu; on her heart: "May onr Lord judge me if I am Iving, Monsieur le Cure. I tell you she goes to him every evening as soon as your sister is in bed. They meet each other beside the river, ou have only to get there between 10 o'clock and midnight, and see for yourself." He ceased scratching his Chin, and he commenced to walk the room violently, as he always did m his hours of gravest thought. When he tried to begin his shaving again he cut himself three SANCTITY OF LOVE. ' Abbe Marignan, as soldier of the We his fighting title well. He 1 fall, thin priest, very fanatical, of static hut upright soul. All his be-f be-f re fixed without ever a wavering, wugiit that he penetrated the de-the de-the wishes, tho intentions of the T-'-iing in nature seemed to him d with an absolute and admirable The "wherefore" and tho "be- were always balanced. The da wns . matle to render glad your waking. kJ to ripen the harvest, the rains tw them, the evenings to prepare fwr'ing, and tho nights dark for " four seasons corresponded perfect-u perfect-u the needs of agriculture; and to suspicion conld never have come lajnre has no intentions, and that faicli lives has bent itself, on the rarV, to the hard conditions of differ-"-iods, of climates and of matter. 1 T he did bate women; he hated ' conscionably, and he despised ' y instinct. He often repeated rds of his Master, "Woman, what 1 to do with thee?" and he added, ' ffonld almost say that God him-u'as him-u'as ill pleased with that particular 1 of his hands." Woman was the -;rMs who had ensnared the first o was the being which is feeble, !"rns, mysteriously troubling. And "wre than her weak body he hated ,jVingsoul. " ' exhausted; he had a great desire to sit down, to pause here, to praise God in all his works. Down there, following the bends of the little river, wound a great line of poplars. On and about the banks, wrapping all the tortuous watercourse with a kind of light, transparent wadding, hung suspended a fine mist, a white vapor which the moon rays crossed and silvered, and caused to gleam. The priest paused, yet again penetrated penetrat-ed to the bottom of his soul by a strong and growing emotion. And a doubt, a vague uneasiness, seized on him; he perceived that one of those questions which he sometimes put to himself was now being born. Wrhyhad God done this? Since the night is destined for sleep, for unconsciousness, uncon-sciousness, for repose, for forgetfulnis of everything, why, then, make it more charming than the day, sweeter than thu dawns and the sunsets? And this slow seductive star, more poetical than the sun, and so discreet that it seems designed de-signed to light np things too delicate, too mysterious, for the great luminary why was it come to brighten all the shades? Why did not the cleverest of all songsters song-sters go to rest like the others? And why did he set Limself to singing in the vaguely troubling dark? Why this half veil over the world? Why these quiverings of the heart, this emotion of the soul, this langnor of the bodv? . Why this display of seductions which mankind never sees, being aeleep in bed? For whom was intended this sublime spectacle, this flood of poetry povre 1 from heaven to earth? And the abbe did not understand st Bnt now, see. down there along the edge of the field appeared two shadows walking side by side under the arched roof of the trees all soaked in glittering mist. , , ... i Ibejnaaww lis talier and tad fc-j ' times from nose to ear. A '1 day long he remained silent, swollen 1 with anger and rage. Tfthis priestly zeal against the mighty power of love was added the moral indignation of a father, of a teacher, of a keeper of souls, who Lis been deceived, robbed, played with by a child. He had that egotistical choking chok-ing sensation such as parents feel when their daughter announces that she has chosen a husband without them and in spite of their advice. After his dinner he tried to read a little, lit-tle, but he could not bring himself so far, and he grew angrier and angrier. When it struck 10 he took Ins cane, a formidable formi-dable oaken club which he always earned when he had to go out at night to visit the sick, and he smilinriy regarded the enormous cudgel, holding it m his solid coutrynmn fist and cntnng threaten-Swithitrntheair. threaten-Swithitrntheair. Then sud-delv sud-delv he raised it, and grindmg his teeth he brought it down upon a f chair the back of which, split in two, fell heavily to the ground. TJepicei hisjjoor to goout. bnt Etojfc i uwn telt women s tenderness itself to him, and though he knew to lie unassailable he grew ex-r,teI ex-r,teI at the need of loving which 'd always in their hearts, an, to his mind, had only been y to tempt man and to prove him. s!onld not approach her without ' Precautions for defense which you j take, and those fears which yon cherish, near a trap. She was, jost like a trap, with her arms and her lips open toward a tad indulgence only for nuns ren-1 ren-1 harmless by -.heir vow; but he 'hem harshly notwithstanding. ver living at the bottom of gained up hearts, of their chas t-irts. t-irts. he perceived that eternal s which constantly went out to "though he was a priest. conscious of it in their looks, oist with piety than the looks of I T cstacies, in their trans- |