During the whole afternoon they let her reflect．But，in the place of calling her“Madame” as they had up to this time，they simply called her“Mademoiselle”without knowing exactly why，as if they had a desire to put her down a degree in their esteem，which she had taken by storm，and make her feel her shameful situation．

The moment supper was served，Mr．Follenvie appeared with his old phrase：“The Prussian officer orders me to ask if Miss Elizabeth Rousset has yet changed her mind．”

Ball-of-Fat responded dryly：“No，sir．”

But at dinner the coalition weakened．Loiseau made three unhappy remarks．Each one beat his wits for new examples but found nothing；when the Countess，without premeditation，perhaps feeling some vague need of rendering homage to religion，asked the elder of the good sisters to tell them some great deeds in the lives of the saints．It appeared that many of their acts would have been considered crimes in our eyes；but the Church gave absolution of them readily，since they were done for the glory of God，or for the good of all．It was a powerful argument；the Countess made the most of it．

Thus it may be by one of those tacit understandings，or the veiled complacency in which anyone who wears the ecclesiastical garb excels，it may be simply from the effect of a happy unintelligence，a helpful stupidity，but in fact the religious sister lent a formidable support to the conspiracy．They had thought her timid，but she showed herself courageous，verbose，even vio-lent．She was not troubled by the chatter of the casuist；her doctrine seemed a bar of iron；her faith never hesitated；her conscience had no scruples．She found the sacrifice of Abraham perfectly simple，for she would immediately kill fathar or mother on an order from on high．And nothing，in her opinion，could displease the Lord，if the intention was laudable．The Countess put to use the authority of her unwitting accomplice， and added to it the edifying paraphrase and axiom of Jesuit morals：“The need justifies the means．”

Then she asked her：“Then，my sister，do you think that God accepts intentions，and pardons the deed when the motive is pure？”

“Who could doubt it，Madame？An action blamable in itself often becomes meritorious by the thought it springs from．”

And they continued thus，unraveling the will of God，foreseeing his decisions，making themselves interested in things that，in truth，they would never think of noticing．All this was guarded，skillful，discreet．But each word of the saintly sister in a cap helped to break down the resistance of the unworthy courtesan．Then the conversation changed a little，the woman of the chaplet speaking of the houses of her order，of her Superior，of herself，of her dainty neighbor，the dear sister Saint－Nicephore．They had been called to the hospitals of Havre to care for the hundreds of soldiers stricken with smallpox．They depicted these miserable creatures，giving details of the malady．And while they were stopped，en route，by the caprice of this Prussian officer，a great number of Frenchmen might die， whom perhaps they could have saved！It was a specialty with her，caring for soldiers．She had been in Crimea，in Italy，in Austria，and，in telling of her campaigns，she revealed herself as one of those religious aids to drums and trumpets，who seem made to follow camps，pick up the wounded in the thick of battle，and，better than an officer，subdue with a word great bands of undisciplined recruits．A true，good sister of the rataplan，whose ravaged face，marked with innumerable scars，appeared the image of the devastation of war．

No one could speak after her，so excellent seemed the effect of her words．

As soon as the repast was ended they quickly went up to their rooms，with the purpose of not coming down the next day until late in the morning．

The luncheon was qu............