Tall, angular, and solemn, he was as cold and impassive as the stones of
his church.

By what immense efforts of will, at the cost of what torture, had he
made himself what he was? One could form some idea of the terrible
restraint to which he had subjected himself by looking at his eyes,
which occasionally emitted the lightnings of an impassioned soul.

Was he old or young? The most subtle observer would have hesitated to
say on seeing this pallid and emaciated face, cut in two by an immense
nose--a real eagle's beak--as thin as the edge of a razor.

He wore a white cassock, which had been patched and darned in numberless
places, but which was a marvel of cleanliness, and which hung about his
tall, attenuated body like the sails of a disabled vessel.

He was known as the Abbe Midon.

At the sight of the two strangers seated in his drawing-room, he
manifested some slight surprise.

The carriage standing before the door had announced the presence of a
visitor; but he had expected to find one of his parishioners.

No one had warned him or the sacristan, and he was wondering with whom
he had to deal, and what they desired of him.

Mechanically, he turned to Bibiaine, but the old servant had taken
flight.