had called the poor his superiors; Gervasius and Protais had washed the
feet of the most indigent, and Martin had divided his cloak with them.
So she, following the example of Lucy, wished to sell everything
that she might give. At first she disposed of all her little private
possessions, then she began to pillage the house. But at last she
gave without judgment and foolishly. One evening, two days after her
Confirmation, being reprimanded for having thrown from the window
several articles of underwear to a drunken woman, she had a terrible
attack of anger like those when she was young; then, overcome by shame,
she was really ill and forced to keep her bed for a couple of days.



CHAPTER III

In the meanwhile, weeks and months went by. Two years had passed.
Angelique was now fourteen years of age and quite womanly. When she read
the "Golden Legend," she would have a humming in her ears, the blood
circulated quickly through the blue veins near her temples, and she felt
a deep tenderness towards all these virgin saints.

Maidenhood is the sister of the angels, the union of all good,
the overthrow of evil, the domain of faith. It gives grace, it is
perfection, which has only need to show itself to conquer. The action of
the Holy Spirit rendered Lucy so heavy that a thousand men and five pair
of oxen could not drag her away from her home. An officer who tried
to kiss Anastasia was struck blind. Under torture, the purity of the
virgins is always powerful; from their exquisite white limbs, torn by
instruments, milk flows instead of blood. Ten different times the story
is told of the young convert who, to escape from her family, who wish