Selected Writings of Guy De Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant
page 106 of 350 (30%)
page 106 of 350 (30%)
![]() | ![]() |
|
some six months before, and did not seem disposed to quit it. She
never spoke at table, ate rapidly, reading all the while a small book, treating of some Protestant propaganda. She gave a copy of it to everybody. The cure himself had received no less than four copies, at the hands of an urchin to whom she had paid two sous' commission. She said sometimes to our hostess, abruptly, without preparing herin the least for the declaration: " 'I love the Saviour more than all; I worship him in all creation; I adore him in all nature; I carry him always in my heart.' "And she would immediately present the old woman with one of her brochures which were destined to convert the universe. "In the village she was not liked. In fact, the schoolmaster had declared that she was an atheist, and that a sort of reproach attached to her. The cure, who had been consulted by Madame Lecacheur, responded: " 'She is a heretic, but God does not wish the death of the sinner, and I believe her to be a person of pure morals.' "These words, 'atheist,' 'heretic,' words which no one can precisely define, threw doubts into some minds. It was asserted, however, that this English-woman was rich, and that she had passed her life in traveling through every country in the world, because her family had thrown her off. Why had her family thrown her off? Because of her natural impiety? |
|