"What! She has done nothing to me?" . . . interrupted Montfanon.
"But it is quite natural that a sceptic should not comprehend what she
has done to me, what she does to me daily, not to me personally, but to
my opinions. When one has, like you, learned intellectual athletics in
the circus of the Sainte-Beuves and Renans, one must think it fine that
Catholicism, that grand thing, should serve as a plaything for the
daughter of a pirate who aims at an aristocratic marriage. It may, too,
amuse you that my holy friend, Cardinal Guerillot, should be the dupe of
that intriguer. But I, Monsieur, who have received the sacrament by the
side of a Sonis, I can not admit that one should make use of what was the
faith of that hero to thrust one's self into the world. I do not admit
that one should play the role of dupe and accomplice to an old man whom
I venerate and whom I shall enlighten, I give you my word."

"And as for this ancient relic," he continued, again showing the volume,
"you may think it childish that I do not wish it mixed up in the shameful
comedy. But no, it shall not be. They shall not exhibit with words of
emotion, with tearful eyes, this breviary on which once prayed that grand
soldier; yes, Monsieur, that great believer. She has done nothing to
me," he repeated, growing more and more excited, his red face becoming
purple with rage, "but they are the quintessence of what I detest the
most, people like her and her father. They are the incarnation of the
modern world, in which there is nothing more despicable than these
cosmopolitan adventurers, who play at grand seigneur with the millions
filibustered in some stroke on the Bourse. First, they have no country.
What is this Baron Justus Hafner--German, Austrian, Italian? Do you
know? They have no religion. The name, the father's face, that of the
daughter, proclaim them Jews, and they are Protestants--for the moment,
as you have too truthfully said, while they prepare themselves to become
Mussulmen or what not. For the moment, when it is a question of God!....