Capuchin monk of great sanctity, such as often pass through the towns
of the South, came to Plassans to conduct a mission. The pulpit of St.
Saturnin resounded with his bursts of eloquence. He was a sort of
apostle, a popular and fiery orator, a florid speaker, much given to
the use of metaphors. And he preached on the nothingness of modern
science with an extraordinary mystical exaltation, denying the reality
of this world, and disclosing the unknown, the mysteries of the
Beyond. All the devout women of the town were full of excitement about
his preaching.

On the very first evening on which Clotilde, accompanied by Martine,
attended the sermon, Pascal noticed her feverish excitement when she
returned. On the following day her excitement increased, and she
returned home later, having remained to pray for an hour in a dark
corner of a chapel. From this time she was never absent from the
services, returning languid, and with the luminous eyes of a seer; and
the Capuchin's burning words haunted her; certain of his images
stirred her to ecstasy. She grew irritable, and she seemed to have
conceived a feeling of anger and contempt for every one and everything
around her.

Pascal, filled with uneasiness, determined to have an explanation with
Martine. He came down early one morning as she was sweeping the
dining-room.

"You know that I leave you and Clotilde free to go to church, if that
pleases you," he said. "I do not believe in oppressing any one's
conscience. But I do not wish that you should make her sick."

The servant, without stopping in her work, said in a low voice: