id not indicate a sainted man; yet my
two friends did not feel scandalized, although their astonishment was
very evident, for they had not expected that show of gallantry from a
young neophyte. I was nearly bursting into a loud laugh, when I heard M.
Dandolo remark that, unless we hurried, we would not have time to hear
mass, whereupon Bavois enquired whether it was a festival. M. Dandolo,
without passing any remark, answered negatively, and after that, mass was
not again mentioned. When Bavois was ready, I left them and went a
different way. I met them again at dinner-time, during which the
reception given to the young baron by the secretary was discussed, and in
the evening my friends introduced him to several ladies who were much
pleased with him. In less than a week he was so well known that there was
no fear of his time hanging wearily on his hands, but that week was
likewise enough to give me a perfect insight into his nature and way of
thinking. I should not have required such a long study, if I had not at
first begun on a wrong scent, or rather if my intelligence had not been
stultified by my fanaticism. Bavois was particularly fond of women, of
gambling, of every luxury, and, as he was poor, women supplied him with
the best part of his resources. As to religious faith he had none, and as
he was no hypocrite he confessed as much to me.

"How have you contrived," I said to him one day, "such as you are, to
deceive De la Haye?"

"God forbid I should deceive anyone. De la Haye is perfectly well aware
of my system, and of my way of thinking on religious matters, but, being
himself very devout, he entertains a holy sympathy for my soul, and I do
not object to it. He has bestowed many kindnesses upon me, and I feel
grateful to him; my affection for him is all the greater because he never
teases me with his dogmatic lessons or with sermons respecting my
salvation, of which I have no doubt that God, in His fatherly goodness,
will take care. All this is settled between De la Haye and me, and we
live on the best of terms:"

The best part of the joke is that, while I was studying him, Bavois,
without knowing it, restored my mind to its original state, and I was
ashamed of myself when I realized that I had been the dupe of a Jesuit
who was an arrant hypocrite, in spite of the character of holiness which
he assumed, and which he could play with such marvellous ability. From
that moment I fell again into all my former pract