Page:Musset - Gamiani, or Two Passionate Nights.djvu/60

 head back, and would laugh hysterically all the while.

I was terribly afraid of her at these times and thought she was subject to fits…

At last one day, after she had been talking a long time with a Franciscan friar, she called me to her, and the reverend father began to address me as follows:

"My child, you are getting a big girl now. The devil, who is always seeking to tempt us, can see you always. Very soon you may begin to feel his attacks. Only if you are pure and immaculate, his darts cannot reach you; if you are without reproach you will remain invulnerable.

By pain and suffering, Our Lord has redeemed the world, by his martyrdom and by your own punishments, you may expiate your own sins.

You must prepare to undergo the martyrdom of the redemption. Ask God to give you the strength and bravery needful: this night you will be put to the test… Go in peace, my daughter."

My aunt had already spoken to me a short time before, of the punishment, of the torture one must suffer in order to obtain pardon for ones sins. When the monk left us, I was quite frightened about what he