VII

Bianchon resolved to watch Desplein. He remembered the day and

hour when he had detected him going into Saint-Sulpice, and

resolved to be there again next year on the same day and at the

same hour, to see if he should find him there again. In that case

the periodicity of his devotion would justify a scientific

investigation; for in such a man there ought to be no direct

antagonism of thought and action.

Next year, on the said day and hour, Bianchon, who had already

ceased to be Desplein's house surgeon, saw the great man's cab

standing at the corner of the Rue de Tournon and the Rue du

Petit-Lion, whence his friend jesuitically crept along by the

wall of Saint-Sulpice, and once more attended mass in front of

the Virgin's altar. It was Desplein, sure enough! The master-

surgeon, the atheist at heart, the worshiper by chance. The

mystery was greater than ever; the regularity of the phenomenon

complicated it. When Desplein had left, Bianchon went to the

sacristan, who took charge of the chapel, and asked him whether

the gentleman were a constant worshiper.

"For twenty years that I have been here," replied the man, "M.

Desplein has come four times a year to attend this mass. He

founded it."

"A mass founded by him!" said Bianchon, as he went away. "This is

as great a mystery as the Immaculate Conception--an article which

alone is enough to make a physician an unbeliever."

Some time elapsed before Doctor Bianchon, though so much his

friend, found an opportunity of speaking to Desplein of this

incident of his life. Though they met in consultation, or in

society, it was difficult to find an hour of confidential

solitude when, sitting with their feet on the fire-dogs and their

head resting on the back of an armchair, two men tell each other

their secrets. At last, seven years later, after the Revolution

of 1830, when the mob invaded the Archbishop's residence, when

Republican agitators spurred them on to destroy the gilt crosses

which flashed like streaks of lightning in the immensity of the

ocean of houses; when Incredulity flaunted itself in the streets,

side by side with Rebellion, Bianchon once more detected Desplein

going into Saint-Sulpice. The doctor followed him, and knelt down

by him without the slightest notice or demonstration of surprise

from his friend. They both attended this mass of his founding.

"Will you tell me, my dear fellow," said Bianchon, as they left

the church, "the reason for your fit of monkishness? I have

caught you three times going to mass---- You! You must account to

me for this mystery, explain such a flagrant disagreement between

your opinions and your conduct. You do not believe in God, and

yet you attend mass? My dear master, you are bound to give me an

answer."