answer.

The Scotchman laughed heartily at this nonsense, and proposed to Barre
to let his devil enter into competition with the boys of his seventh
form; but Barre, instead of frankly accepting the challenge in the
devil's name, hemmed and hawed, and opined that the devil was justified
in not satisfying idle curiosity.

"But, sir, you must be aware," said the civil lieutenant, "and if you
are not, the manual you hold in your hand will teach you, that the gift
of tongues is one of the unfailing symptoms of true possession, and the
power to tell what is happening at a distance another."

"Sir," returned Barre, "the devil knows the language very well, but,
does not wish to speak it; he also knows all your sins, in proof of
which, if you so desire, I shall order him to give the list."

"I shall be delighted to hear it," said the civil lieutenant; "be so
good as to try the experiment."

Barre was about to approach the superior, when he was held back by the
bailiff, who remonstrated with him on the impropriety of his conduct,
whereupon Barre assured the magistrate that he had never really intended
to do as he threatened.

However, in spite of all Barre's attempts to distract the attention of
the bystanders from the subject, they still persisted in desiring to
discover the extent of the devil's knowledge of foreign languages, and
at their suggestion the bailiff proposed to Barre to try him in Hebrew
instead of Gaelic. Hebrew being, according to Scripture, the most
ancient language of all, ought to be familiar to the demon, unless
indeed he had forgotten it. This idea met with such general applause
that Barre was forced to command the possessed nun to say aqua in
Hebrew. The poor woman, who found it difficult enough to repeat
correctly the few Latin words she had learned by rote, made an impatient
movement, and said--

"I can't help it; I retract" (Je renie).

These words being heard and repeated by those near her produced such an
unfavourable impression that one of the Carmelite monks tried to explain
them away by declaring that the superior had not said "Je renie," but
"Zaquay," a Hebrew word corresponding to the two Latin words, "Effudi
aquam" (I threw water about). But the words "Je renie" had been heard
so distinctly that the monk's assertion was greeted with jeers, and the
sub-prior reprimanded him publicly as a liar. Upon this, the superior
had a fresh attack of convulsions, and as all present knew that these