Là-bas

by J.-K. Huysmans

  CHAPTER XX

  "He doesn't lead a humdrum life, that canon!" said Des Hermies, whenDurtal had related to him the details of the Black Mass. "It's averitable seraglio of hystero-epileptics and erotomaniacs that he hasformed for himself. But his vices lack warmth. Certainly, in the matterof contumelious blasphemies, of sacrilegious atrocities, and sensualexcitation, this priest may seem to have exceeded the limits, to bealmost unique. But the bloody and investuous side of the old sabbats iswanting. Docre is, we must admit, greatly inferior to Gilles de Rais.His works are incomplete, insipid; weak, if I may say so."

  "I like that. You know it isn't easy to procure children whom one maydisembowel with impunity. The parents would raise a row and the policewould interfere."

  "Yes, and it is to difficulties of this sort that we must evidentlyattribute the bloodless celebration of the Black Mass. But I am thinkingjust now of the women you described, the ones that put their heads overthe chafing-dishes to drink in the smoke of the burning resin. Theyemploy the procedure of the Aissaouas, who hold their heads over thebraseros whenever the catalepsy necessary to their orgies is slow incoming. As for the other phenomena you cite, they are known in thehospitals, and except as symptoms of the demoniac effluence they teachus nothing new. Now another thing. Not a word of this to Carhaix,because he would be quite capable of closing his door in your face if heknew you had been present at an office in honour of Satan."

  They went downstairs from Durtal's apartment and walked along toward thetower of Saint Sulpice.

  "I didn't bring anything to eat, because you said you would look afterthat," said Durtal, "but this morning I sent Mme. Carhaix--in lieu ofdesserts and wine--some real Dutch gingerbread, and a couple of rathersurprising liqueurs, an elixir of life which we shall take, by way ofappetizer, before the repast, and a flask of creme de celeri. I havediscovered an honest distiller."

  "Impossible!"

  "You shall see. This elixir of life is manufactured from Socotra aloes,little cardamom, saffron, myrrh, and a heap of other aromatics. It'sinhumanly bitter, but it's exquisite."

  "I am anxious to taste it. The least we can do is fete Gevingey a littleon his deliverance."

  "Have you seen him?"

  "Yes. He's looking fine. We'll make him tell us about his cure."

  "I keep wondering what he lives on."

  "On what his astrological skill brings him."

  "Then there are rich people who have their horoscopes cast?"

  "We must hope so. To tell you the truth, I think Gevingey is not in veryeasy circumstances. Under the Empire he was astrologer to the Empress,who was very superstitious and had faith--as did Napoleon, for thatmatter--in predictions and fortune telling, but since the fall of theEmpire I think Gevingey's situation has changed a good deal for theworse. Nevertheless he passes for being the only man in France who haspreserved the secrets of Cornelius Agrippa, Cremona, Ruggieri, Gauric,Sinibald the Swordsman, and Tritemius."

  While discoursing they had climbed the stair and arrived at thebell-ringer's door.

  The astrologer was already there and the table was set. All grimaced abit as they tasted the black and active liqueur which Durtal poured.

  Joyous to have all her family about her, Mama Carhaix brought the richsoup. She filled the plates.

  When a dish of vegetables was passed and Durtal chose a leek, DesHermies said, laughing, "Look out! Porta, a thaumaturge of the latesixteenth century, informs us that this plant, long considered an emblemof virility, perturbs the quietude of the most chaste."

  "Don't listen to him," said the bell-ringer's wife. "And you, MonsieurGevingey, some carrots?"

  Durtal looked at the astrologer. His head still looked like asugar-loaf, his hair was the same faded, dirty brown of hydroquinine oripecac powders, his bird eyes had the same startled look, his enormoushands were covered with the same phalanx of rings, he had the sameobsequious and imposing manner, and sacerdotal tone, but he wasfreshened up considerably, the wrinkles had gone out of his skin, andhis eyes were brighter, since his visit to Lyons.

  Durtal congratulated him on the happy result of the treatment.

  "It was high time, monsieur, I was putting myself under the care of Dr.Johannes, for I was nearly gone. Not possessing a shred of the gift ofvoyance and knowing no extralucid cataleptic who could inform me of theclandestine preparations of Canon Docre, I could not possibly defendmyself by using the laws of countersign and of the shock in return."

  "But," said Des Hermies, "admitting that you could, through theintermediation of a flying spirit, have been aware of the operations ofthe priest, how could you have parried them?"

  "The law of countersigns consists, when you know in advance the day andhour of the attack, in going away from home, thus throwing the spell offthe track and neutralizing it, or in saying an hour beforehand, 'Here Iam. Strike!' The last method is calculated to scatter the fluids to thewind and paralyze the powers of the assailant. In magic, any act knownand made public is lost. As for the shock in return, one must also knowbeforehand of the attempt if one is to cast back the spells on theperson sending them before one is struck by them.

  "I was certain to perish. A day had passed since I was bewitched. Twodays more and I should have been ready for the cemetery."

  "How's that?"

  "Every individual struck by magic has three days in which to takemeasures. That time past, the ill is incurable. So when Docre announcedto me that he condemned me to death by his own authority and when, twohours later, on returning home, I felt desperately ill, I lost no timepacking my grip and starting for Lyons."

  "And there?" asked Durtal.

  "There I saw Dr. Johannes. I told him of Docre's threat and of myillness. He said to me simply. 'That priest can dress the most virulentpoisons in the most frightful sacrileges. The fight will be bitter, butI shall conquer,' and he immediately called in a woman who lives in hishouse, a voyant.

  "He hypnotized her and she, at his injunction, explained the nature ofthe sorcery of which I was the victim. She reconstructed the scene. Sheliterally saw me being poisoned by food and drink mixed with menstrualfluid that had been reinforced with macerated sacramental wafers anddrugs skilfully dosed. That sort of spell is so terrible that aside fromDr. Johannes no thaumaturge in France dare try to cure it.

  "So the doctor finally said to me, 'Your cure can be obtained onlythrough an invincible power. We must lose no time. We must at oncesacrifice to the glory of Melchisedek.'

  "He raised an altar, composed of a table and a wooden tabernacle. It wasshaped like a little house surmounted by a cross and encircled, underthe pediment, by the dial-like figure of the tetragram. He brought thesilver chalice, the unleavened bread and the wine. He donned hissacerdotal habits, put on his finger the ring which has received thesupreme benedictions, then he began to read from a special missal theprayers of the sacrifice.

  "Almost at once the voyant cried, 'Here are the spirits evoked for thespell. These are they which have carried the venefice, obedient to thecommand of the master of black magic, Canon Docre!'

  "I was sitting beside the altar. Dr. Johannes placed his left hand on myhead and raising toward heaven his right he besought the ArchangelMichael to assist him, and adjured the glorious legions of theinvincible seraphim to dominate, to enchain, the spirits of Evil.

  "I was already feeling greatly relieved. The sensation of internalgnawing which tortured me in Paris was diminishing. Dr. Johannescontinued to recite his orisons, then when the moment came for thedeprecatory prayer, he took my hand, laid it on the altar, and threetimes chanted:

  "'May the projects and the designs of the worker of iniquity, who hasmade enchantment against you, be brought to naught; may any influenceobtained by Satanic means, any attack directed against you, be null andvoid of effect; may all the maledictions of your enemy be transformedinto benedictions from the highest summits of the eternal hills; may hisfluids of death be transmuted into ferments of life; finally, may theArchangels of Judgment and Chastisement decide
the fate of the miserablepriest who has put his trust in the works of Darkness and Evil.'

  "'You,' he said to me, 'are delivered. Heaven has cured you. May yourheart therefore repay the living God and Jesus Christ, through theglorious Mary, with the most ardent devotion.'

  "He offered me unleavened bread and wine. I was saved. You who are aphysician, Monsieur Des Hermies, can bear witness that human science wasimpotent to aid me--and now look at me!"

  "Yes," Des Hermies replied, "without discussing the means, I certify thecure, and, I admit, it is not the first time that to my knowledgesimilar results have been obtained.--No thanks," to Mme. Carhaix, whowas inviting him to take another helping from a plate of sausages withhorseradish in creamed peas. "But," said Durtal, "permit me to ask youseveral questions. Certain details interest me. What were the sacerdotalornaments of Dr. Johannes?"

  "His costume was a long robe of vermilion cashmere caught up at thewaist by a red and white sash. Above this robe he had a white mantle ofthe same stuff, cut, over the chest, in the form of a cross upsidedown."

  "Cross upside down?"

  "Yes, this cross, reversed like the figure of the Hanged Man in theold-fashioned Tarot card deck, signifies that the priest Melchisedekmust die in the Old Man--that is, man affected by original sin--and liveagain the Christ, to be powerful with the power of the Incarnate Wordwhich died for us."

  Carhaix seemed ill at ease. His fanatical and suspicious Catholicismrefused to countenance any save the prescribed ceremonies. He made nofurther contribution to the conversation, and in significant silencefilled the glasses, seasoned the salad, and passed the plates.

  "What sort of a ring was that you spoke of?"

  "It is a symbolic ring of pure gold. It has the image of a serpent,whose head, in relief, set with a ruby, is connected by a fine chainwith a tiny circlet which fastens the jaws of the reptile."

  "What I should like awfully to know is the origin and the aim of thissacrifice. What has Melchisedek to do with your affair?"

  "Ah," said the astrologer, "Melchisedek is one of the most mysterious ofall the figures in the Holy Bible. He was king of Salem, sacrificer tothe Most High God. He blessed Abraham and Abraham gave him tithes of thespoil of the vanquished kings of Sodom and Gomorrah. That is the storyin Genesis 14:18-20. But Saint Paul cites him also, in Hebrews 7, and inthe third verse of that chapter says that Melchisedek, 'without father,without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of day, norend of life, but made like unto the Son of God, abideth, a priestcontinually.' In Hebrews 5:6 Paul, quoting Psalm 110:4, says Jesus iscalled 'a priest forever after the order of Melchisedek.'

  "All this, you see, is obscure enough. Some exegetes recognize in himthe prophetic figure of the Saviour, others, that of Saint Joseph, andall admit that the sacrifice of Melchisedek offering to Abraham theblood and wine of which he had first made oblation to the Lordprefigures, to follow the expression of Isidore of Damietta, thearchetype of the divine mysteries, otherwise known as the holy mass."

  "Very well," said Des Hermies, "but all that Scripture does not explainthe alexipharmacal virtues which Dr. Johannes attributes to thesacrifice."

  "You are asking more than I can answer. Only Dr. Johannes could tellyou. This much I can say. Theology teaches us that the mass, as it iscelebrated, is the re-enaction of the Sacrifice of Calvary, but thesacrifice to the glory of Melchisedek is not that. It is, in some sort,the future mass, the glorious office which will be known during theearthly reign of the divine Paraclete. This sacrifice is offered to Godby man regenerated, redeemed by the infusion of the Love of the HolyGhost. Now, the hominal being whose heart has thus been purified andsanctified is invincible, and the enchantments of hell cannot prevailagainst him if he makes use of this sacrifice to dissipate the Spiritsof Evil. That explains to you the potency of Dr. Johannes, whose heartunites, in this ceremony, with the divine heart of Jesus."

  "Your exposition is not very clear," Carhaix mildly objected.

  "Then it must be supposed that Johannes is a man amended ahead of time,an apostle animated by the Holy Ghost?"

  "And so he is," said the astrologer, firmly assured.

  "Will you please pass the gingerbread?" Carhaix requested.

  "Here's the way to fix it," said Durtal. "First cut a slice very thin,then take a slice of ordinary bread, equally thin, butter them and putthem together. Now tell me if this sandwich hasn't the exquisite tasteof fresh walnuts."

  "Well," said Des Hermies, pursuing his cross-examination, "aside fromthat, what has Dr. Johannes been doing in this long time since I lastsaw him?"

  "He leads what ought to be a peaceful life. He lives with friends whorevere and adore him. With them he rests from the tribulations of allsorts--save one--that he has been subjected to. He would be perfectlyhappy if he did not have to repulse the attacks launched at him almostdaily by the tonsured magicians of Rome."

  "Why do they attack him?"

  "A thorough explanation would take a long time. Johannes is commissionedby Heaven to break up the venomous practises of Satanism and to preachthe coming of the glorified Christ and the divine Paraclete. Now thediabolical Curia which holds the Vatican in its clutches has everyreason of self-interest for putting out of the way a man whose prayersfetter their conjurements and neutralize their spells."

  "Ah!" exclaimed Durtal, "and would it be too much to ask you how thisformer priest foresees and checks these astonishing assaults?"

  "No indeed. The doctor can tell by the flight and cry of certain birds.Falcons and male sparrow-hawks are his sentinels. If they fly toward himor away from him, to East or West, whether they emit a single cry ormany; these are omens, letting him know the hour of the combat so thathe can be on guard. Thus he told me one day, the sparrow-hawks areeasily influenced by the spirits, and he uses them as the hypnotistmakes use of somnambulism, as the spiritist makes use of tables andslates."

  "They are the telegraph wires for magic despatches."

  "Yes. And of course you know that the method is not new. Indeed, itsorigin is lost in the darkness of the ages. Ornithomancy is world-old.One finds traces of it in the Holy Bible, and the Zohar asserts that onemay receive numerous notifications if one knows how to observe theflight and distinguish the cries of birds."

  "But," said Durtal, "why is the sparrow-hawk chosen in preference toother birds?"

  "Well, it has always been, since remotest antiquity, the harbinger ofcharms. In Egypt the god with the head of a hawk was the one whopossessed the science of the hieroglyphics. Formerly in that country thehierogrammatists swallowed the heart and blood of the hawk to preparethemselves for the magic rites. Even today African chiefs put a hawkfeather in their hair, and this bird is sacred in India."

  "How does your friend go about it," asked Mme. Carhaix, "raising andhousing birds of prey?--because that is what they are."

  "He does not raise them nor house them. They nest in the high bluffsalong the Saone, near Lyons. They come and see him in time of need."

  Durtal, looking around this cozy dining-room and recalling theextraordinary conversations which had been held here, was thinking, "Howfar we are from the language and the ideas of modern times.--All thattakes us back to the Middle Ages," he said, finishing his thought aloud.

  "Happily!" exclaimed Carhaix, who was rising to go and ring his bells.

  "Yes," said Des Hermies, "and what is mighty strange in this day ofcrass materialism is the idea of battles fought in space, over thecities, between a priest of Lyons and prelates of Rome."

  "And between this priest and the Rosicrusians and Canon Docre."

  Durtal remembered that Mme. Chantelouve had assured him that the chiefsof the Rosicrucians were making frantic efforts to establish connectionswith the devil and prepare spells.

  "You think that the Rosicrucians are satanizing?"

  "They would like to, but they don't know how. They are limited toreproducing, mechanically, the few fluidic and veniniferous operationsrevealed to them by the three brahmins who visited P
aris a few yearsago."

  "I am thankful, myself," said Mme. Carhaix, as she took leave of thecompany, "that I am not mixed up in any of this frightful business, andthat I can pray and live in peace."

  Then while Des Hermies, as usual, prepared the coffee and Durtal broughtthe liqueur glasses, Gevingey filled his pipe, and when the sound of thebells died away--dispersed and as if absorbed by the pores of thewall--he blew out a great cloud of smoke and said, "I passed somedelightful days with the family with whom Dr. Johannes is living. Afterthe shocks which I had received, it was a privilege without equal tocomplete my convalescence in that sweet atmosphere of Christian Love.And, too, Johannes is of all men I have ever met the most learned in theoccult sciences. No one, except his antithesis, the abominable Docre,has penetrated so far into the arcana of Satanism. One may even say thatin France these two are the only ones who have crossed the terrestrialthreshold and obtained, each in his field, sure results. But in additionto the charm of his conversation and the scope of his knowledge--foreven on the subject in which I excel, that of astrology, he surprisedme--Johannes delighted me with the beauty of his vision of the futuretransformation of peoples. He is really, I swear, the prophet whoseearthly mission of suffering and glory has been authorized by the MostHigh."

  "I don't doubt it," said Durtal, smiling, "but his theory of theParaclete is, if I am not mistaken, the very ancient heresy of Montanuswhich the Church has formally condemned."

  "All depends on the manner in which the coming of the Paraclete isconceived," interjected the bell-ringer, returning at that moment. "Itis also the orthodox doctrine of Saint Irenaeus, Saint Justin, ScotusErigena, Amaury of Chartres, Saint Doucine, and that admirable mystic,Joachim of Floris. This was the belief throughout the Middle Ages, and Iadmit that it obsesses me and fills me with joy, that it responds to themost ardent of my yearnings. Indeed," he said, sitting down and crossinghis legs, "if the third kingdom is an illusion, what consolation is leftfor Christians in face of the general disintegration of a world whichcharity requires us not to hate?"

  "I am furthermore obliged to admit," said Des Hermies, "that in spite ofthe blood shed on Golgotha, I personally feel as if my ransom had notbeen quite effected."

  "There are three kingdoms," the astrologer resumed, pressing down theashes of his pipe with his finger. "Of the Old Testament, that of theFather, the kingdom of fear. Of the New Testament, that of the Son, thekingdom of expiation. Of the Johannite Gospel, that of the Holy Ghost,the kingdom of redemption and love. They are the past, present andfuture; winter, spring and summer. The first, says Joachim of Floris,gives us the blade, the second, the leaf, and the third, the ear. Two ofthe Persons of the Trinity have shown themselves. Logically the Thirdmust appear."

  "Yes, and the Biblical texts abound, conclusive, explicit, irrefutable,"said Carhaix. "All the prophets, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Zachariah,Malachi, speak of it.' The Acts of the Apostles is very precise on thispoint. In the first chapter you will read these lines, 'This same Jesus,which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner asye have seen him go into heaven.' Saint John also announces the tidingsin the Apocalypse, which is the gospel of the second coming of Christ,'Christ shall come and reign a thousand years.' Saint Paul isinexhaustible in revelations of this nature. In the epistle to Timothyhe invokes the Lord 'who shall judge the quick and the dead at hisappearance and his kingdom.' In the second epistle to the Thessalonianshe writes, 'And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shallconsume with the Spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with thebrightness of his coming.' Now, he declares that the Antichrist is notyet, so the coming which he prophesies is not that already realized bythe birth of the Saviour at Bethlehem. In the Gospel according to SaintMatthew, Jesus responds to Caiaphas, who asks Him if He is the Christ,Son of God, 'Thou hast said, and nevertheless I say unto you, Hereaftershall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power andcoming in the clouds of heaven.' And in another verse He says to Hisapostles, 'Watch, therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord dothcome.'

  "And there are other texts I could put my finger on. No, there is no usein talking, the partisans of the glorious kingdom are supported withcertitude by inspired passages, and can, under certain conditions andwithout fear of heresy, uphold this doctrine, which, Saint Jeromeattests, was in the fourth century a dogma of faith recognized by all.But what say we taste a bit of this creme de celeri which MonsieurDurtal praises so highly?"

  It was a thick liqueur, sirupy like anisette, but even sweeter and morefeminine, only, when one had swallowed this inert semi-liquid, therelingered in the roots of the papillae a faint taste of celery.

  "It isn't bad," said the astrologer, "but there's no life to it," and hepoured into his glass a stiff tot of rum.

  "Come to think of it," said Durtal, "the third kingdom is also announcedin the words of the Paternoster, 'Thy kingdom come.'"

  "Certainly," said the bell-ringer.

  "But you see," interjected Gevingey, "heresy would gain the upper handand the whole belief would be turned into nonsense and absurdity if weadmitted, as certain Paracletists do, an authentic fleshly incarnation.For instance, remember Fareinism, which has been rife, since theeighteenth century, in Fareins, a village of the Doubs, where Jansenismtook refuge when driven out of Paris after the closing of the cemeteryof Saint Medard. There a priest, Francois Bonjour, reproduced the'convulsionist' orgies which, under the Regency, desecrated the tomb ofDeacon Paris. Then Bonjour had an affair with a woman and she claimed tobe big with the prophet Elijah, who, according to the Apocalypse, is toprecede the last arrival of Christ. This child came into the world, thenthere was a second who was none other than the Paraclete. The latter didbusiness as a woolen merchant in Paris, was a colonel in the NationalGuard under Louis-Philippe, and died in easy circumstances in 1866. Atradesman Paraclete, a Redeemer with epaulettes and gold braid!

  "In 1886 one Dame Brochard of Vouvray affirmed to whoever would listenthat Jesus was reincarnate in her. In 1889 a pious madman named Davidpublished at Angers a brochure entitled _The Voice of God_, in which heassumed the modest appellation of 'only Messiah of the Creator HolyGhost,' and informed the world that he was a sewer contractor and wore abeard a yard and a half long. At the present moment his throne is notempty for want of successors. An engineer named Pierre Jean rode allover the Mediterranean provinces on horseback announcing that he was theHoly Ghost. In Paris, Berard, an omnibus conductor on thePantheon-Courcelles line, likewise asserts that he incorporates theParaclete, while a magazine article avers that the hope of Redemptionhas dawned in the person of the poet Jhouney. Finally, in America, fromtime to time, women claim to be Messiahs, and they recruit adherentsamong persons worked up to fever pitch by Advent revivals."

  "They are no worse than the people who deny God and Creation," saidCarhaix. "God is immanent in His creatures. He is their Life principle,the source of movement, the foundation of existence, says Saint Paul. Hehas His personal existence, being the 'I AM,' as Moses says.

  "The Holy Ghost, through Christ in glory, will be immanent in allbeings. He will be the principle which transforms and regenerates them,but there is no need for him to be incarnate. The Holy Ghost proceedsfrom the Father through the Son. He is sent to act, not to materializehimself. It is downright madness to maintain the contrary, thus fallinginto the heresies of the Gnostics and the Fratricelli, into the errorsof Dulcin de Novare and his wife Marguerite, into the filth of abbeBeccarelli, and the abominations of Segarelli of Parma, who, on pretextof becoming a child the better to symbolize the simple, naif love of theParaclete, had himself diapered and slept on the breast of a nurse."

  "But," said Durtal, "you haven't made yourself quite clear to me. If Iunderstand you, the Holy Ghost will act by an infusion into us. He willtransmute us, renovate our souls by a sort of 'passive purgation'--todrop into the theological vernacular."

  "Yes, he will purify us soul and body."

  "How will he purify our bodies?"

  "The acti
on of the Paraclete," the astrologer struck in, "will extend tothe principle of generation. The divine life will sanctify the organswhich henceforth can procreate only elect creatures, exempt fromoriginal sin, creatures whom it will not be necessary to test in thefires of humiliation, as the Holy Bible says. This was the doctrine ofthe prophet Vintras, that extraordinary unlettered man who wrote suchimpressive and ardent pages. The doctrine has been continued andamplified, since Vintras's death, by his successor, Dr. Johannes."

  "Then there is to be Paradise on earth," said Des Hermies.

  "Yes, the kingdom of liberty, goodness, and love."

  "You've got me all mixed up," said Durtal. "Now you announce thearrival of the Holy Ghost, now the glorious advent of Christ. Are thesekingdoms identical or is one to follow the other?"

  "There is a distinction," answered Gevingey, "between the coming of theParaclete and the victorious return of Christ. They occur in the ordernamed. First a society must be recreated, embraced by the thirdHypostasis, by Love, in order that Jesus may descend, as He haspromised, from the clouds and reign over the people formed in Hisimage."

  "What role is the Pope to play?"

  "Ah, that is one of the most curious points of the Johannite doctrine.Time, since the first appearance of the Messiah, is divided, as youknow, into two periods, the period of the Victim, of the expiantSaviour, the period in which we now are, and the other, that which weawait, the period of Christ bathed in the spittle of mockery but radiantwith the superadorable splendour of His person. Well, there is adifferent pope for each of these eras. The Scriptures announce these twosovereign pontificates--and so do my horoscopes, for that matter.

  "It is an axiom of theology that the spirit of Peter lives in hissuccessors. It will live in them, more or less hidden, until thelonged-for expansion of the Holy Ghost. Then John, who has been held inreserve, as the Gospel says, will begin his ministry of love and willlive in the souls of the new popes."

  "I don't understand the utility of a pope when Jesus is to be visible,"said Des Hermies.

  "To tell the truth, there is no use in having one, and the papacy is toexist only during the epoch reserved for the effluence of the divineParaclete. The day on which, in a shower of meteors, Jesus appears, thepontificate of Rome ceases."

  "Without going more deeply into questions which we could discuss therest of our lives," said Durtal, "I marvel at the placidity of theUtopian who imagines that man is perfectible. There is no denying thatthe human creature is born selfish, abusive, vile. Just look around youand see. Society cynical and ferocious, the humble heckled and pillagedby the rich traffickers in necessities. Everywhere the triumph of themediocre and unscrupulous, everywhere the apotheosis of crooked politicsand finance. And you think you can make any progress against a streamlike that? No, man has never changed. His soul was corrupt in the daysof Genesis and is not less rotten at present. Only the form of his sinsvaries. Progress is the hypocrisy which refines the vices."

  "All the more reason," Carhaix rejoined, "why society--if it is as youhave described it--should fall to pieces. I, too, think it is putrefied,its bones ulcerated, its flesh dropping off. It can neither be poulticednor cured, it must be interred and a new one born. And who but God canaccomplish such a miracle?"

  "If we admit," said Des Hermies, "that the infamousness of the times istransitory, it is self-evident that only the intervention of a God canwash it away; for neither socialism nor any other chimera of theignorant and hate-filled workers will modify human nature and reform thepeoples. These tasks are above human forces."

  "And the time awaited by Johannes is at hand," Gevingey proclaimed."Here are some of the manifest proofs. Raymond Lully asserted that theend of the old world would be announced by the diffusion of thedoctrines of Antichrist. He defined these doctrines. They arematerialism and the monstrous revival of magic. This prediction appliesto our age, I think. On the other hand, the good tidings was to berealized, according to Our Lord, as reported by Saint Matthew, 'When yeshall see the abomination of desolation ... stand in the holy place.'And isn't it standing in the holy place now? Look at our timorous,skeptical Pope, lukewarm and politic, our episcopate of simonists andcowards, our flabby, indulgent clergy. See how they are ravaged bySatanism, then tell me if the Church can fall any lower."

  "The promises are explicit and cannot fail," and with his elbows on thetable, his chin in his hands, and his eyes to heaven, the bell-ringermurmured, "Our father--thy kingdom come!"

  "It's getting late," said Des Hermies, "time we were going."

  While they were putting on their coats, Carhaix questioned Durtal. "Whatdo you hope for if you have no faith in the coming of Christ?"

  "I hope for nothing at all."

  "I pity you. Really, you believe in no future amelioration?"

  "I believe, alas, that a dotard Heaven maunders over an exhaustedEarth."

  The bell-ringer raised his hands and sadly shook his head.

  When they had left Gevingey, Des Hermies, after walking in silence forsome time, said, "You are not astonished that all the events spoken oftonight happened at Lyons." And as Durtal looked at him inquiringly, hecontinued, "You see I am well acquainted with Lyons. People's brainsthere are as foggy as the streets when the morning mists roll up fromthe Rhone. That city looks magnificent to travellers who like the longavenues, wide boulevards, green grass, and penitentiary architecture ofmodern cities. But Lyons is also the refuge of mysticism, the haven ofpreternatural ideas and doubtful creeds. That's where Vintras died, theone in whom, it seems, the soul of the prophet Elijah was incarnate.That's where Naundorff found his last partisans. That is whereenchantment is rampant, because in the suburb of La Guillotiere you canhave a person bewitched for a louis. Add that it is likewise, in spiteof its swarms of radicals and anarchists, an opulent market for a dourProtestant Catholicism; a Jansenist factory, richly productive ofbourgeois bigotry.

  "Lyons is celebrated for delicatessen, silk, and churches. At the top ofevery hill--and there's a hill every block--is a chapel or a convent,and Notre Dame de Fourviere dominates them all. From a distance thispile looks like an eighteenth century dresser turned upside down, butthe interior, which is in process of completion, is amazing. You oughtto go and take a look at it some day. You will see the mostextraordinary jumble of Assyrian, Roman, Gothic, and God knows what,jacked together by Bossan, the only architect for a century who hasknown how to create a cathedral interior. The nave glitters with inlaysand marble, with bronze and gold. Statues of angels diversify the rowsof columns and break up, with impressive grace, the known harmonies ofline. It's Asiatic and barbarous, and reminds one of the architectureshown in Gustave Moreau's Herodiade.

  "And there is an endless stream of pilgrims. They strike bargains withOur Lady. They pray for an extension of markets, new outlets forsausages and silks. They consult her on ways and means of getting rid ofspoiled vegetables and pushing off their shoddy. In the centre of thecity, in the church of Saint Boniface, I found a placard requesting thefaithful, out of respect for the holy place, not to give alms. It wasnot seemly, you see, that the commercial orisons be disturbed by theridiculous plaints of the indigent."

  "Well," said Durtal, "it's a strange thing, but democracy is the mostimplacable of the enemies of the poor. The Revolution, which, you wouldthink, ought to have protected them, proved for them the most cruel ofregimes. I will show you some day a decree of the Year II, pronouncingpenalties not only for those who begged but for those who gave."

  "And yet democracy is the panacea which is going to cure every ill,"said Des Hermies, laughing. And he pointed to enormous posterseverywhere in which General Boulanger peremptorily demanded that thepeople of Paris vote for him in the coming election.

  Durtal shrugged his shoulders. "Quite true. The people are very sick.Carhaix and Gevingey are perhaps right in maintaining that no humanagency is powerful enough to effect a cure."