"I will never allow it to be mentioned in my presence. I can make fun
of anything under the sun: Kings, politics, finance, everything that
is sacred in the eyes of the world--judges, matrimony, and love--old
men and maidens. But the Church and God!--There I draw the line.--I
know I am wicked; I am sacrificing my future life to you. And you have
no conception of the immensity of my love."
Crevel clasped his hands.
"No, unless you could see into my heart, and fathom the depth of my
conviction so as to know the extent of my sacrifice! I feel in me the
making of a Magdalen.--And see how respectfully I treat the priests;
think of the gifts I make to the Church! My mother brought me up in
the Catholic Faith, and I know what is meant by God! It is to sinners
like us that His voice is most awful."
Valerie wiped away two tears that trickled down her cheeks. Crevel was
in dismay. Madame Marneffe stood up in her excitement.
"Be calm, my darling--you alarm me!"
Madame Marneffe fell on her knees.
"Dear Heaven! I am not bad all through!" she cried, clasping her
hands. "Vouchsafe to rescue Thy wandering lamb, strike her, crush her,
snatch her from foul and adulterous hands, and how gladly she will
nestle on Thy shoulder! How willingly she will return to the fold!"
She got up and looked at Crevel; her colorless eyes frightened him.
"Yes, Crevel, and, do you know? I, too, am frightened sometimes. The
justice of God is exerted in this nether world as well as in the next.
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