Page:The Rise and Fall on the Paris Commune in 1871.djvu/407



"'You will come again soon, will you not?'

"'Tuesday, monseigneur.'

"And I went out. His cell was No. 62.

"A few doors further on was the cell of M. Duguerry. When I entered he was seated between the bed and the table on the only chair the room possessed. On the table were several books, newspapers, and a small copper crucifix, like those worn by the nuns. Without rising, the poor curé held out his arms and gave me a long embrace. He then forced me to take his chair.

"'Ah! I have plenty of time to be there,' he said, and he seated himself near me on the foot of the bed. I did not find him much changed, only thinner. His white beard and mustaches displayed themselves against his florid complexion and large features, which were framed by the remains of a plentiful head of hair. The good curé immediately began to repeat to me the burlesque remarks made to him by Rigault and his secretary Dacosta.

"'What is this trade of yours?'

"'It is not a trade, it is a vocation, a moral ministry, which we undertake for the amelioration of souls,'

"'Ah, that is all blagues. We want to know what stories you tell the people.'

"'We teach them the religion of our Lord Jesus Christ.'

"'There are no more Lords; we don't know any Lords.'

"The director of the prison said to the good Abbé in a moment of confidence: 'I, too, have religious ideas. I wished to be a Moravian brother; afterwards I had an idea of belonging to the Brotherhood of Chartreux; but I think I had sooner become a Mormon.'

"The Abbé Duguerry added that he had need of nothing; that his domestic had everything passed to him for which he asked. I saw, in fact, on the table several oranges, chocolate, and some bottles.