s necessary, before anything was done, to receive for another
year, to furnish the house. This made four thousand franks; and when
he had got six thousand, he kept the whole, saying it was the fruit of
his labour, and that he had well earned it.

"I had not waited for this to make me distrustful of the man; I had had
some strange inward misgivings on his account. One day methought I saw
a black wolf sporting with a white lamb. Another day it was the heart
of Saint Saulieu, and a little Moorish child with a crown and sceptre
of gold sitting upon it, as if the devil had been the king of his
heart. I did not conceal these visions from him; but he grew angry,
and said I ought to confess myself, for thinking so badly of my
neighbour; that he could not be a black wolf; for, on the contrary, the
more he approached me, the more pure and chaste he became.

"One day, however, he told me that we ought to be married, only for
spiritual love; and that such a union would enable us to do still more
good. To this I answered, that marriage was not requisite for such a
union. He made me, however, little demonstrations of friendship, to
which, at first, I paid no attention. At last, he suddenly threw off
the mask, told me he loved me desperately; that for many years he had
studied spiritual books, the better to win me; and that now having so
much access to me, I must be his wife, either by love or force and he
approached to caress me. I was very angry, and commanded him to go.
Then he burst into tears, fell on his knees, and said, 'The devil
tempted me.' I was simple enough to believe and to pardon him.

"This was not the end of the affair: he was always recommencing his
attack, following me everywhere, and entering my house in spite of my
girls. He went so far as to hold a knife to my throat to force me to
yield... At the same time he said everywhere that he had gained his
suit, and that I was his promised wife. I complained in vain to his
confessor; I then appealed to justice, who allowed me two men to guard
my house, and began an enquiry. Saint Saulieu soon absconded from
Lille, and went to Ghent, where he found one of my girls, who was a
great devotee and passed for a mirror of perfection: he lived with her,
and she became _enceinte_. The way he arranged the Lille affair was
this: he had a brother among the Jesuits, and they employed their
friends so well, that he got off by paying the costs of justice,
retracting his