that of the Manicheans of which I was speaking. Abbé Guibourg
officiated, consecrated the host, cut it into little pieces and mixed it
with this mixture of blood and ashes. That was the material of the
Sacrament."

"What a horrible priest!" cried Mme. Carhaix, indignant.

"Yes, he celebrated another kind of mass, too, that abbé did. It was
called--hang it--it's unpleasant to say--"

"Say it, Monsieur des Hermies. When people have as great a hatred for
that sort of thing as we here, they need not blink any fact. It isn't
that kind of thing which is going to take me away from my prayers."

"Nor me," added her husband.

"Well, this sacrifice was called the Spermatic Mass."

"Oh!"

"Guibourg, wearing the alb, the stole, and the maniple, celebrated this
mass with the sole object of making pastes to conjure with. The archives
of the Bastille inform us that he acted thus at the request of a lady
named Des Oeillettes:

"This woman, who was indisposed, gave some of her blood; the man who
accompanied her stood patiently beside the bed where the scene took
place, and Guibourg gathered up some of his semen into the chalice, then
added powdered blood and some flour, and after sacrilegious ceremonies
the Des Oeillettes woman departed bearing her paste."