intervals. This done, I shut myself up while the nuns were at prayer,
uncovered my shoulders, and rained such a shower of lashes on them, in
the first fervour of my newly-awakened zeal, that I fairly flogged
myself down on the ground, flat on my nose, before I had repeated more
of the Miserere than the first two or three lines.

I burst out crying, shedding tears of spite against myself when I ought
to have been shedding tears of devotional gratitude for the kindness of
Father Deveaux. All through the night I never closed my eyes, and in
the morning I found my poor shoulders (once so generally admired for
their whiteness) striped with all the colours of the rainbow. The sight
threw me into a passion, and I profanely said to myself while I was
dressing, "The next time I see Father Deveaux, I will give my tongue
full swing, and make the hair of that holy man stand on end with
terror!" A few hours afterwards, he came to the convent, and all my
resolution melted away at the sight of him. His imposing exterior had
such an effect on me that I could only humbly entreat him to excuse me
from indicting a second flagellation on myself. He smiled, benignantly,
and granted my request with a saintly amiability. "Give me the
cat-o'-nine-tails," he said, in conclusion, "and I will keep it for you
till you ask me for it again. You are sure to ask for it again, dear
child--to ask for it on your bended knees!"

Pious and prophetic man! Before many days had passed his words came
true. If he had persisted severely in ordering me to flog myself, I
might have opposed him for months together; but, as it was, who could
resist the amiable indulgence he showed towards my weakness? The very
next day after my interview, I began to feel ashamed of my own
cowardice; and the day after that I went down on my knees, exactly as he
had predicted, and said, "Father Deveaux, give me back my