to Burgundians. He accepted the
second-rate post of Blangy out of pure devotion, for his religious
convictions were joined to political opinions that were equally strong.
There was something of the priest of the olden time about him; he
held to the Church and to the clergy passionately; saw the bearings
of things, and no selfishness marred his one ambition, which was _to
serve_. That was his motto,--to serve the Church and the monarchy
wherever it was most threatened; to serve in the lowest rank like
a soldier who feels that he is destined, sooner or later, to attain
command through courage and the resolve to do his duty. He made no
compromises with his vows of chastity, and poverty, and obedience; he
fulfilled them, as he did the other duties of his position, with that
simplicity and cheerful good-humor which are the sure indications of an
honest heart, constrained to do right by natural impulses as much as by
the power and consistency of religious convictions.

The priest had seen at first sight Blondet's attachment to the countess;
he saw that between a Troisville and a monarchical journalist he could
safely show himself to be a man of broad intelligence, because his
calling was certain to be respected. He usually came to the chateau very
evening to make the fourth at a game of whist. The journalist, able to
recognize the abbe's real merits, showed him so much deference that the
pair grew into sympathy with each other; as usually happens when men of
intelligence meet their equals, or, if you prefer it, the ears that are
able to hear them. Swords are fond of their scabbards.

"But to what do you attribute this state of things, Monsieur l'abbe, you
who are able, through your disinterestedness, to look over the heads of
things?"

"I shall not talk platitudes after such a flattering speech as that,"
said the abbe, smiling. "What is going on in this valley is spreading
more or less throughout France; it is the outcome of the hopes which the
upheaval of 1789 caused to infiltrate, if I may use that expression, the
minds of the peasantry, the sons of the soil. The Revolution affected
certain localities more than others. This side of Burgundy, nearest to
Paris, is one of those places where the revolutionary ideas spread like
the overrunning of the Franks by the Gauls. Historically, the peasants
are still on the morrow of the Jacquerie; that defeat is burnt in upon
their brain. They have long forgotten the facts which have n