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\i\fs28\cf1\lang1033\langfe1033\cgrid\langnp1033\langfenp1033 {Prie Dieux

}\pard\plain \ql \fi288\li0\ri0\sl-300\slmult0\widctlpar\aspalpha\aspnum\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin0\itap0 \fs24\cf1\lang1033\langfe1033\cgrid\langnp1033\langfenp1033 {

\'93Bless me, Father, for I have sinned\'85\'94

She liked to catch Father Gallifrey as early in the day as possible, before too many of his other parishioners had taken the opportunity to burden him with their petty transgressions. It gave her a decidedly un-Christian little }{\i frisson}{
to think of her own sins as being the freshest, and lying most near the handsome young priest\rquote s heart. As if she believed that they would be the ones that he would touch most often during his day, and for which he would most frequently \endash
and passionately \endash seek intercession with God. Though, truth be told, C\'e9cie Fant\'e8gnant did not really believe that her sins required so very much in the way of forgiving.

C\'e9cie squirmed, straining to make out the face belonging to the shadowy presence on the opposite side of the screen. As well try and discern the face of God, she
thought impatiently. Her attention was drawn instead to the intermittent sparkling of the small golden crucifix as it moved against the starless night of the curate\rquote s vestments.

There was an audible sigh from the other side of the ornately carved rosewood grating.

\'93Mlle. Fant\'e8gnant, I really think that it is unnecessary for you to make your confession so frequentl\'85\'94

}\pard\plain \s16\ql \fi288\li0\ri0\sl-300\slmult0\widctlpar\aspalpha\aspnum\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin0\itap0 \fs24\cf1\lang1033\langfe1033\cgrid\langnp1033\langfenp1033 {\'93But Father, I don\rquote
t want my sins piling up! They become such a burden, and I\rquote m afraid that if I neglect them, soon just the sheer number of them will serve to discourage me from making my Confession at all!\'94

\'93Oh, very well. Go on, my child.\'94

\'93Father, I have had impure thoughts\'85\'94

}\pard\plain \s17\ql \fi288\li0\ri0\sl-300\slmult0\widctlpar\aspalpha\aspnum\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin0\itap0 \fs24\cf1\lang1033\langfe1033\cgrid\langnp1033\langfenp1033 {Twenty minutes later C\'e9cie Fant\'e8
gnant stepped lightly from the confessional box, fresh and sweet as a spring violet, with just the faintest hint of roses in her apple-round cheeks. Another minute passed, and a lanky young cleric e
merged from the other side of the confessional, pale and wild-eyed, just in time to see the lady\rquote s trim bustle disappearing through the massive doors of St. Jude\rquote
s. The priest crossed himself with a slightly unsteady hand, and made his way shakily toward the vestry. Perhaps the new sacramental wine had not yet been blessed and put away by the Monseigneur.

}\pard\plain \ql \fi288\li2880\ri0\sl-300\slmult0\widctlpar\aspalpha\aspnum\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin2880\itap0 \fs24\cf1\lang1033\langfe1033\cgrid\langnp1033\langfenp1033 {_____________

}\pard \ql \fi288\li0\ri0\sl-300\slmult0\widctlpar\aspalpha\aspnum\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin0\itap0 {

C\'e9cie Fant\'e8gnant shared a bed-sitting room m
idway down the hill between St. Pierre de Montmartre and Place Pigalle with another girl, Lisette Marchemain. It was small, and had no convenience for cooking, but this did not matter very much to the two young women, as they took nearly all of their meal
s out. They had a small spirit stove to brew their tea, and a smaller wooden ice chest on their tiny veranda in which they kept their cream, and the odd pastry in cooler months. They }{\i did}{
have a private bath, however, very much a luxury among young women in their line of work, and one of which they were inordinately proud. Most of the other girls that they knew who inhabited the seamy Parisien }{\i demimonde}{
between Place Blanche and Boulevard Clichy were obliged to share their bath with an entire floor. Many of these same girls thought that C\'e9
cie and Lisette gave themselves airs on this account, and so treated the two young women with the natural disdain that the professional often harbors for the gifted amateur in any field of endeavor.

\'93He thinks that I should give them up, of course.\'94 C\'e9cie sighed melodramatically, taking a sip of her tea.

\'93And what do you say to that?\'94

\'93What }{\i can}{ I say? I tell him that it would inconvenience my landlady enormously were I to do so.\'94

\'93To say nothing of Etienne,\'94 Lisette observed, setting both women to giggling nervously.

The two were lounging about in their chemises, fanning themselves and waiting for the oppressive late-afternoon heat of August to abate enough so that they could begin their }{\i toilette}{ for the evening. Although the
se were the dog days of summer, and most of the important people had fled the city for villas in Villefranche sur Mer or Cap d\rquote
Antibes, there were still one or two parties of some note for a girl to attend, if she had the right sort of connections. And C\'e9cie\rquote s roommate had just the kind of connections required to attend what promised to be \lquote the\rquote }{\i fete}
{ of the late summer in Paris. In fact, Lisette\rquote s aunt was hosting several of the artists of last spring\rquote s }{\i Salon Refus\'e9s}{ that very evening, and the cr\'e8me de la cr\'e8
me of Left Bank society (such as it was) would be on display in Mme.Charteron\rquote s sumptuous parlors.

Lisette\rquote s aunt took a kind of perverse pleasure in parading this less-than-acceptable element of Parisien society in her rooms from time to time, simply f
or the shock value that it had on the more staid members of her normal social circle. In this respect she resembled closely her niece Lisette. Unlike that impetuous young woman, however, she had the foresight to remove the finer pieces of furniture from h
er salon beforehand. She had seen these artists at work in a social milieu before, and had no desire to be put to the trouble and expense of having her Louis Quinze chairs and settees reupholstered.

Lisette suddenly puffed out her cheeks and stretched out on her back upon the small bedsitting room\rquote s divan, striking a sultry pose as she opened her chemise and pushed forth her all-but-non-existent tummy.

\'93Look, I am \lquote Olympia,\rquote \'94 she intoned gravely.

The young women screamed with laughter at Lisette\rquote s deft burlesque of M. Manet\rquote
s portrait of an anonymous courtesan. This shocking painting had all of Paris abuzz that summer, and seemed to confirm the worst suspicions of the surprisingly easily-shocked Parisien }{\i haute monde. }{To wit, that all French men and women for
nicated whenever and wherever the opportunity presented itself, and, further, that the lower classes are particularly susceptible in such matters, and \endash further still \endash that all artists think of little else, and that all artists\rquote
models are by and large available to anyone who asks in a reasonable fashion, or has the price of a meal. C\'e9cie and Lisette were not disinclined to agree with such an assumption, so long as the definition of \lquote reasonable\rquote
was sufficiently broad, and included a good dinner at }{\i Le Coq d\rquote Or}{ or the }{\i Fleur de Lys}{.

\'93La, they like to }{\i paint}{ those sorts of women,\'94 C\'e9cie gasped, \'93but they prefer to go to bed with ones whose }{\i petite bourse de plaisir}{ they can find without resorting to a Baedeker\'85\'94

They both dissolved again into shrieks of hysterical laughter.

\'93But seriously,\'94 C\'e9cie went on, dashing tears of mirth from her eyes. \'93What will your aunt say to your bringing me along to the party this evening? For that matter, what will she say about }{\i your}{ attending?\'94 C\'e9
cie choked back a fresh fit of giggling.

\'93Oh, bother Aunt Berth\'e8! I had a lovely frock run up especially for the occasion, and I intend to dance until dawn in it! And who knows? Perhaps,\'94 she added, with a gay twinkle in her eye, \'93we may have an opportunity to make a few }{\i sous}{
that we shan\rquote t have to share with that bastard Etienne, }{\i n\rquote est pas?}{\'94

With that, the girls threw themselves into their preparations for the grand evening, chattering away like excited young magpies. For in truth, girls so young and heedless have very little patience with
such complex concepts as actions, and their consequences.

}\pard \s15\ql \fi288\li2880\ri0\sl-300\slmult0\widctlpar\aspalpha\aspnum\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin2880\itap0 {_____________

}\pard \s15\ql \fi288\li0\ri0\sl-300\slmult0\widctlpar\aspalpha\aspnum\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin0\itap0 {

\'93Look, C\'e9cie! Isn\rquote t that Marie Dudevant with M. Hugo? You don\rquote t suppose that she is trying to impress him with the extent of her knowledge on the social implications of the Commune, do you?\'94

}\pard\plain \ql \fi288\li0\ri0\sl-300\slmult0\widctlpar\aspalpha\aspnum\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin0\itap0 \fs24\cf1\lang1033\langfe1033\cgrid\langnp1033\langfenp1033 {C\'e9
cie glanced briefly in the direction Lisette was indicating with her Chinese silk fan, and dismissed the girl in question with a sniff. \'93More likely the extent of her knowledge of social }{\i infections}{. A subject upon which she is vastly qualified t
o discourse, or so I have heard.\'94

\'93You }{\i are}{ wicked!\'94 Lisette jabbed C\'e9cie with an elbow as she scanned the room, then gestured with her fan again, this time in the direction of a small knot of people surrounding her Aunt Berth\'e8 at the far end of the long, c
andlelit salon.

\'93But isn\rquote t that your precious Father Gallifray?\'94

It was, indeed. C\'e9cie\rquote s lovely porcelain-doll\rquote s features softened as her eyes came to rest upon the tall, spare frame of the uncomfortable-looking cleric. He towered head and shoulders above
the others, and his hands fluttered like frightened birds, as if seeking vainly for some occupation or other that would not draw attention to themselves, or to their owner.

\'93If he is not careful, he will fly away,\'94 Lisette smirked. \'93And my aunt is not fond of guests who flit about among her chandeliers, even if they are curates!\'94

C\'e9cie smiled, watching the young priest. Lisette frowned sternly at her friend.

\'93C\'e9cie, you really must give up this foolish flirtation! What possible good can come of it? After all, my darling, the man is a priest!\'94

\'93But he knows everything about me, Lisette. }{\i Everything}{. And still he pities me, and forgives me.\'94 She gave a heartfelt sigh. \'93What purer or more blissful understanding than that could possibly exist between a man and woman?\'94

Lisette at once sensed the danger in that sigh.

\'93I think that you may be confusing the messenger with its author, }{\i cherie}{. Besides, I am not convinced that God has forgiven you your sins. }{\i Or}{ Pere plus saint, for that matter. Perhaps he has simply gr
own so weary of hearing your endless recitations of them, that he grants you a dispensation in order to get some peace from your chattering.\'94

\'93No, no, it is not like that at all, Lisette! I\rquote m certain that I have touched his heart with my poor, simple girl\rquote s search for God, and forgiveness for the sinful life I\rquote ve led.\'94

The normally loquacious Lisette was so taken aback by this utterance, and by her friend\rquote s almost comically pious expression, that for a moment she could think of no sensible reply to make to it at all.

\'93Hmmph!\'94 she managed at last. \'93And I wonder what }{\i he}{ has been touching, while he listens to your confessions?\'94

\'93Lisette, hush! Here he comes!\'94

C\'e9cie kept her gaze fixed resolutely on the golden crucifix moving lightly upon Father Gallifrey\rquote s breast as he neared them, in order to keep from staring at his hands. Each time she saw the young priest\rquote
s hands, with their long, pale, almost effeminate fingers, she felt the most unusual stirrings in herself, and was filled with longings such as she had no
t felt since she and Hyacinthe Thierry had made intimate acquaintance of one another for the very first time by the mill pond back in Nohant. She had scarcely been thirteen at the time. C\'e9
cie struggled to hide her feelings, and cursed the blush she felt stealing up across her bosom to her neck, and thence to her cheeks.

\'93Good evening Mlle Marchemain, Mlle Fant\'e8gnant,\'94 he began self-consciously, making a stiff little bow.

}\pard\plain \s15\ql \fi288\li0\ri0\sl-300\slmult0\widctlpar\aspalpha\aspnum\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin0\itap0 \fs24\cf1\lang1033\langfe1033\cgrid\langnp1033\langfenp1033 {\'93Good evening, Father,\'94
the girls chorused, each making him their prettiest courtesy. C\'e9cie lingered in hers a heartbeat longer than did Lisette, and felt Father Gallifrey\rquote s eyes linger in turn upon her. Her cheeks flamed.

}\pard\plain \ql \fi288\li0\ri0\sl-300\slmult0\widctlpar\aspalpha\aspnum\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin0\itap0 \fs24\cf1\lang1033\langfe1033\cgrid\langnp1033\langfenp1033 {\'93I must confess, I really am at a loss as to why Mme. Charteron invited me to this
\'85this\'85affair,\'94 he began, stammering as he gesticulated wildly with an arm, a movement that seemed to include both the shocking \endash to him \endash
pictures that had been set up on temporary display along the walls of the salon, and the rather more shocking collection of d\'e9collet\'e9 flesh being displayed by not a few of the female guests. \'93I fear that works such as these are }{\i most}{
injurious to the moral health and vigor of the general populace, and lead inevitably to the arousal of the senses by their crude and indecent realism. I admit I am quite incapable
of hitting upon the proper note with which to respond to all of this...this\'85this\'85\'94 his pale hand fluttered irresolutely before he allowed it to drop to his side once again, defeated.

}\pard\plain \s16\ql \fi288\li0\ri0\sl-300\slmult0\widctlpar\aspalpha\aspnum\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin0\itap0 \fs24\cf1\lang1033\langfe1033\cgrid\langnp1033\langfenp1033 {\'93La, Father,\'94 Lisette chided the young prelate, tapping him playfully on
the shoulder with her fan. \'93Simply keep in the forefront of your mind Jonah in the belly of that great fish of his, and you shall not go far wrong here this evening. Or at least,\'94 she passed a sly, conspiratorial look to her friend, \'93
only as far wrong as C\'e9
cie shall allow you to go! And now, if you will excuse me, I see that M. Fantin-Latour has my aunt nearly in the throes of an apoplectic fit with his extemporizing. I must repair to her with the smelling salts, before he starts in on her about his latest
painting. Father, C\'e9cie\'85\'94

}\pard\plain \ql \fi288\li0\ri0\sl-300\slmult0\widctlpar\aspalpha\aspnum\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin0\itap0 \fs24\cf1\lang1033\langfe1033\cgrid\langnp1033\langfenp1033 {
With another graceful courtesy Lisette departed, leaving the oddly-matched young couple suddenly and unexpectedly to their own devices. They were each silent for a time, the one carefully crafting her next move, while the other w
as unable to think of anything but his utter discomfiture, and the effect that the surroundings \endash and C\'e9cie\rquote s perfume \endash were having upon his ability to concentrate at all.

C\'e9cie Fant\'e8gnant was a young woman who, in fact, possessed those two qualities that
inevitably seemed to attract gentlemen whose intentions were often less than honorable; she was very beautiful, and she was not really very hard to please. Unfortunately, another class of gentleman \endash
one to which Father Gallifrey belonged by inclination if not by birth \endash only saw at first blush the obvious charms of the former, stumbling upon the latter after it was far too late to do anything about it.

\'93Mlle. Fant\'e8gnant, I hope that you will not think me terribly forward if I \endash \'94

\'93Father Gallifrey, please forgive my frankness but \endash \'93

They both burst into startled laughter, then paused to let the other continue.

\'93Mademoiselle Fant\'e8gnant\'85\'94

\'93C\'e9cie, Father. Do please call me by my Christian name. After all,\'94 she lowered her eyes coquettishly, \'93we are not in the Confessional here.\'94

\'93Indeed we are not,\'94 Father Gallifrey hastened to concur somewhat stiffly. \'93If we were, what I wish to say to you would be quite impossible. And yet what I want to say \endash no, what I }{\i must}{ say \endash
can scarcely be disassociated from your confessions. My dear Mlle. Fant\'e8gnant, I must entreat you again to give some further consideration to the life that you have chosen to lead, and its inevitable consequences for not only your\'85\'94

C\'e9cie began to lose the thread of this conversation almost immediately as the young priest droned on about sin, and redemption, and young ladies who lived in bedsits in Montmarte eating }{\i petit fours }{
at all hours of the day and rouging their cheeks. Here she had been expecting a passionate declaration of his true feelings for her, and instead she was being subjected to a lengthy disquisition on some proverb or other of Solomon\rquote
s, one that seemed to credit women in general, and poor C\'e9cie in particular, with being \lquote the desolation of righteousness.\rquote She simply }{\i had}{ to find some
way to help the poor man express his true feelings! She was casting about feverishly for some method to assist him when the small chamber ensemble struck up a waltz.

}\pard\plain \ql \fi288\li0\ri0\sl-300\slmult0\widctlpar\aspalpha\aspnum\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin0\itap0 \fs24\cf1\lang1033\langfe1033\cgrid\langnp1033\langfenp1033 {The startled prelate took a step backwards, as if he had been s
truck a physical blow. But C\'e9
cie was not to be deterred. Taking his hand, she led him determinedly onto the polished floor as the other couples parted before them like the Red Sea before Moses. And in fact before very long, the assistant priest at St. Jude\rquote
s was whirling the young }{\i demimondaine}{ about the floor in a quite skillful and accomplished rendition of the waltz. C\'e9cie took a moment to thank God for the social graces that He had seen fit in His wisdom to confer upon her new paramour.

And so they danced, and were nearly indistinguishable from any other young couple in the first throes of romantic infatuation. Heads turned throughout the long gallery, and a kind of hush \endash
not really a silence, but a sort of lowering of the volume of conversation \endash became evident as the two waltzed gracefully across the parquetry. C\'e9
cie had never felt such a transport of emotions in all of her young life, and at each flustered attempt by Father Gallifrey \endash who she thought of already as her \lquote dear Juste\rquote \endash to pull her away f
rom the dance floor, or to admonish her about her forwardness, she simply sighed, and clung all the more tightly to his broadclothed form, and his delicate, lovely hand.

C\'e9cie in fact remembered very little else about that evening, or the subsequent morning at all. Only the scent of her new lover\rquote
s cologne, and the texture of his garments beneath her fingertips, and the hypnotic sparkle of his crucifix flashing and dancing just at the level of her besotted eyes.

And his beautiful, beautiful hands\'85

}\pard \ql \fi288\li2880\ri0\sl-300\slmult0\widctlpar\aspalpha\aspnum\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin2880\itap0 {_____________

}\pard \ql \fi288\li0\ri0\sl-300\slmult0\widctlpar\aspalpha\aspnum\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin0\itap0 {

\'93It CANNOT be true! It }{\i CANNOT!!}{\'94

\'93I assure you that it is, however, cherie\'85\'94

C\'e9cie strode agitatedly back and forth across the length of the tiny room, hands pulling at her lovely blonde curls as she uttered the most piteous of moans, interspersed
occasionally with a string of oaths that would have made the most seasoned of Marseille dockhands blanch.

\'93}{\i Merde!}{ He would NOT leave without speaking to me! Without SEEING me, Lisette! I }{\i know}{ that he would not!\'94

}\pard\plain \s16\ql \fi288\li0\ri0\sl-300\slmult0\widctlpar\aspalpha\aspnum\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin0\itap0 \fs24\cf1\lang1033\langfe1033\cgrid\langnp1033\langfenp1033 {Lisette sighed, and cast a knowing eye upon her distraught friend. \'93
Nevertheless, Father Gallifrey is gone, and gone for good, my darling. So you may as well accept the fact and\'85\'94

}\pard\plain \ql \fi288\li0\ri0\sl-300\slmult0\widctlpar\aspalpha\aspnum\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin0\itap0 \fs24\cf1\lang1033\langfe1033\cgrid\langnp1033\langfenp1033 {\'93NO! }{\i Never!!}{ C\'e9
cie balled her hands into tiny, defiant fists, whirling to confront Lisette. \'93I know that something dreadful has befallen him! That }{\i maudit}{ Etienne has done him some harm! I }{\i knew}{ he would, he is so jealous of me!

}\pard\plain \s16\ql \fi288\li0\ri0\sl-300\slmult0\widctlpar\aspalpha\aspnum\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin0\itap0 \fs24\cf1\lang1033\langfe1033\cgrid\langnp1033\langfenp1033 {\'93And of the income which you provide him, cherie, let us not forget that,\'94
Lisette pointed out, somewhat tactlessly. \'93But still, the good Father was seen to be leaving on the coach to Dole this morning, and by all accounts, he was in perfect health\'85
save for a somewhat furtive look he had about the eyes, some observers say.\'94

\'93I shall take poison and join him! Then you will }{\i all}{ be sorry that you have treated us so dreadfully, and told such lies about our love!\'94

C\'e9cie did indeed briefly toy with the idea of quaffing a potion of matchstick heads crushed in milk (which she had learnt about in a romance she\rquote d read involving a broken love affair and failed suicide attempt of the Empress Eugenie\rquote
s), thus putting an end to her torment once for all. But Lisette was able to deflect her from this drastic course of action with surprising ease, and she was restored in an astonishingly short space of time to her normal state \endash
that is to say, one of extraordinary volatility and complete self-absorption.

In fact, it was a measure of the self-centeredness of C\'e9cie\rquote s affections that she preferred her own explanation \endash that her pimp had set upon her priest-lover and murdered him in a fit of jealous rage \endash
to that of her friend Lisette, that Father Gallifrey had simply fled in disgrace (if not outright terror) to some parish in the hinterlands. So comfortable did C\'e9
cie eventually become with this explanation of her own that by that same evening she had agreed to accept an invitation to dine at the }{\i Fleur de Lys}{ with a gentleman of Etienne\rquote s acquaintance, thus
putting an end to what was surely one of the more abbreviated periods of mourning in recent recollection. After all, whether doomed to perpetual grief or no, a girl still must eat.

}\pard\plain \s16\ql \fi288\li0\ri0\sl-300\slmult0\widctlpar\aspalpha\aspnum\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin0\itap0 \fs24\cf1\lang1033\langfe1033\cgrid\langnp1033\langfenp1033 {And what of poor Father Gallifrey? Well it is perhaps for the best that hi
s true fate be left to the reader to divine. Suffice it to say that the Monday next following the scandal of the dancing priest at Mme. Charteron\rquote s found C\'e9
cie, redolent of rosewater and repentance, once again kneeling upon the padded prie dieux in the del
icious, comforting coolness of the confessional box at St. Jude. Her half-hearted orisons were interrupted by the squeal of door hinges in the adjacent stall, and she crossed herself in a desultory manner as this new presence made itself felt behind the c
onfessional screen. All at once the distinct \endash and disturbingly masculine \endash odors of tobacco and leather wafted through the grating, interrupting her pious reveries. She felt her heart begin to beat a bit more quickly in her breast.

}\pard \ql \fi288\li2880\ri0\sl-300\slmult0\widctlpar\aspalpha\aspnum\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin2880\itap0 {_____________

}\pard \ql \fi288\li0\ri0\sl-300\slmult0\widctlpar\aspalpha\aspnum\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin0\itap0 {

}\pard \ql \li0\ri0\widctlpar\aspalpha\aspnum\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin0\itap0 {

}