be Madame Roustan beating her breast for the
sins which she had never committed. Beside her
would kneel her only son, and he gazing up at the
Host with eyes that glowed with a sombre light of
anger; for child though he still was the sight of the
Host would always remind him of his Saviour's
wrongs, so that as they walked back to their homes
after church he must open his fierce young heart to
Christophe, inveighing against those who did not
believe as he did, with a vigour amounting to violence.
But the cousins met rather less often these days,
for while 'Christophe worked in the carpenter's shop,
Jan was frequently working in the Cure's study.
The Cure was teaching him the rudiments of Latin and
Greek, having suddenly come to the decision that when
Jan left school at the age of thirteen, he would under-
take the boy's entire training for the Grand Seminaire
and thus save expense, since Madame Roustan was
not blessed with riches.
The Cure Mattel had said to himself: 'Here is a
really promising student; his school reports are excel-
lent; he has brains, enthusiasm, and courage. But
his mother is poor — it is therefore my duty to do
what I can to help him to the priesthood.5
And while all this was certainly true, the Cure,
who invariably left something out when he tried to
arrive at an accurate reckoning, quite omitted to
acknowledge that paternal urge which drew him to
Jan with so deep an affection — he loved to see the
eager and intelligent child poring over the musty
old books in his study, and he loved to foster in that
combative soul the instincts in which he felt himself
to be lacking.
*Ah, yes,' he would say, 'while we must not fail in
charity —for that would displease our Lord —we
may certainly feel a righteous indignation which
will lead us to fight for our faith and our Church;
H 113