out him and set to work at once.

The first thing to be done was to clean out the church, which was in
such a state of dirt and squalor that people had some excuse for not
wishing to enter it. He then turned his attention to the clergy
already there. They were ignorant and easygoing men, for the most
part, who thought a good deal more of their own amusement than of the
needs of their flock, but they were not bad at heart. Vincent's
representations of what a priest's life ought to be astonished them at
first and convinced them later--all the more so in that they saw in
him the very ideal that he strove to set before them.

There was no presbytery at Chatillon, and to the astonishment of
everyone, Vincent hired a lodging in the house of a young gentleman
who had the reputation of being one of the most riotous livers in the
town. He was, moreover, half a heretic, and Vincent had been warned to
have nothing to do with him. But the new rector had his own ideas on
the subject, and the ill-assorted pair soon became very good friends.

The change in the young man's mode of life was gradual. His first step
was to be reconciled to the Church, his second to begin to interest
himself in the poor. Gradually his bad companions dropped away, until
one day Chatillon suddenly awoke to the fact that this most rackety of
individuals was taking life seriously--was, in fact, a changed man.
The whole town was in a stir. Who was this priest who had so suddenly
come among them, so self-forgetful, so simple, so unassuming, yet
whose influence was so strong with all classes?

It was a question that might well be asked in the light of what was
yet to come.

There lived near Chatillon a certain Count de Rougemont, a noted
duelist, whose violence and immorality were the talk of the
neighborhood. Having heard people speak of the wonderful eloquence of
M. Vincent, this man came one day out of curiosity to hear him preach.
Surprised and touched in spite of himself, he determined to make the
preacher's acquaintance and, hastening into his presence, flung
himself on his knees before him.

"I am a wretch and a sinner!" he cried, "but tell me what to do and I
will do it." Raising him with gentle courtesy, Vincent bade him take
courage, and spoke to him of all the good that a man of his position
might do in the world. The Count, profoundly struck by the contrast
between this man's life and his own--the one so powerful for good, and
the other so stro