THE MASS OK THK ATHEIST. 443 



tury, and which they have contrived a base for in the hoc est corpus. 

 What torrents of blood have been shed in order to establish the 

 Fete Dieu, by the institution of which the court of Rome chose to sig- 

 nalize its victory in the matter of the real presence, a schism which 

 kept the church in hot water during three centuries. The wars 

 of the Count of Thoulouse and the Albigenses form the termination 

 of this business, the Vaudois and the Albigeois refusing to acknow- 

 ledge the innovation." 



And at length Desplein, indulging to the utmost his sceptical 

 humour, poured forth a volley of Voltairian pleasantries, or, to speak 

 the whole truth, gave into a detestable imitation of the Citateur. 



"Whew!'' said Bianchon to himself, "Where is my devotee of 

 this morning?" 



He kept silence however, for he had no doubt as to the fact of 

 liis having seen his chief at St. Sulpice. Desplein had not thought 

 it worth while to prevaricate with Bianchon, they knew each other 

 too well ; they had already, upon points equally grave, exchanged 

 thoughts, and discussed systems de natura rerum, sounding or dis- 

 secting them with the knives and the scalpel of unbelief. Three 

 months passed, and Bianchon attached no importance to this singular 

 fact, although it remained engraven on his memory. In the course 

 of the same year one of the physicians of the Hotel-Dieu said to 

 Desplein, before Bianchon, 



" What is it that carries you to St. Sulpice, my dear master?" 



" To see a priest there who has a carious knee, and whom her 

 Royal Highness Madame the Duchess d'Angouleme has done me the 

 honour to recommend to me.'' 



The physician was contented to take this false money as current 

 coin — not so Bianchon. 



"Ah! and so he goes to see the sore knees in the church! Bah! 

 he went to hear his mass," said the in-door pupil to himself. 



Bianchon resolved in his own mind to watch Desplein. He recol- 

 lected perfectly the day and hour on which he had seen him entering 

 St. Sulpice, and made a promise to himself of returning the following 

 year, on the same day and at the same hour, in order to ascertain 

 whether or not he should again surprise him there. In this case the 

 periodical return of hisdevotional exercises would authorise a scientific 

 investigation into the subject; for in the mind of such a man so di- 

 rect a contradiction between the opinions and the conduct could not 

 be accounted for on ordinary grounds. 



The year following, on the precise day and hour, Bianchon, who 

 was no longer an in-door pupil of Desplein, saw the surgeon's cabriolet 

 stop at the corner of the rue de Zournon and the rue de Petit Lion, 

 from whence his friend stole jesuitically enough along the walls to 

 St. Sulpice, where he again listened to his mass at the altar of the 

 Virgin. It was indeed Desplein ! the surgeon in chief, the atheist 

 inpello. The mystery thickened. The perseverance of the illus- 

 trious son of science put all calculation at fault. When Desplein had 

 left the place Bianchon approached the sacristan, who was clearing 

 away the vessels, &c. which had been used in the chapel, and enqnireti 

 of him whether this gentleman was a regular attendant? 



