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"To-morrow, before proceeding upon my journey, I shall tell you what I demand of you " Cautin, who stood in awe of the hermit, rang a bell while the count, who remained upon his knees, still trembled at every limb, and mopped the cold sweat that inundated his forehead. At the bishop's call, the confidential servant appeared. The holy man said to him in Latin: "The hell was very satisfactory.
"Yours, Master of the Hounds, be the bishopess; ours, the booty of the episcopal villa! Long live the Vagrery!" In the summer season Bishop Cautin inhabited a villa situated not far from the city of Clermont, the seat of his episcopacy.
"Here in the country of Auvergne." "In my burg?" "Yes; perhaps in your own house." "What!" "Do you know the reason why Bishop Cautin has been anxious to accompany me to this place?" "I do not."
Adore your holy bishop who redescends from heaven upon the wings of the Lord's archangels!" "A miracle!" again cried the crowd with even intenser unction, and smiting their chests with redoubled fervor. "A miracle!" "Holy Bishop Cautin, who descends from heaven protect us!"
Take all that is offered to you!" "Blessings upon you, holy bishop!" exclaimed the mothers, raising their arms in thankfulness to Cautin. "Blessed be you, good father, for your generous gifts!" "I give nothing!" cried Cautin. "You shall burn eternally in hell, if you listen to that apostate hermit!" The larger number of the women looked undecided from Ronan to the bishop and the hermit.
I paid for my brother's death, I paid for the death of my wife Wisigarde, I shall pay still more to keep Wisigarde from haunting me! I shall to-morrow start the building of the chapel in the fastness of Allange; I shall have the villa of Bishop Cautin rebuilt! Lord! Good Lord God! Have mercy upon a miserable sinner! Deliver me from the devil and from the spectre of Wisigarde!"
A thunder clap that reverberated in the hollows of the mountain closed the mouth of Chram, and served the knavery of Cautin to perfection. Louder and more imperiously than before the prelate repeated: "Down on your knees! Hear you not the thunder of heaven, the rumbling voice of the Almighty? Will you draw down a shower of fire upon the heads of us all? O, Lord, have pity upon us!
"But why, then, did you follow us in Vagrery?" "Did you not hear my answer to Bishop Cautin: 'It is not the well but the sick who stand in need of the physician?" "Would you blame me for being a Vagre, and would you blame our father for having been a Bagauder?"
His spurred shoes rested upon gilt stirrups; his long gold-hilted sword was sheathed in white cloth and hung from a superbly ornamented belt. In lieu of a whip, he carried a cane of precious wood with a head of chiseled gold, upon which, when the worn-out debauchee walked, he leaned heavily. Prince Chram's face was villainous. On his right Bishop Cautin rode as proudly as a man of war.
In front of Prince Chram and Bishop Cautin the count had ordered to be spread in the shape of a table cloth a bit of purple cloth embroidered in gold and silver and similar to that which covered their seats. Prince Chram and the bishop alone were allowed to use a jasper goblet studded with precious stones. They ate from a dish of solid gold in which the food destined for them was spread.
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