§40 TRAVELS THROUGH LOWER CANADA. 
“ in the dark;’' so saying, he stepped aside to 
a small cupboard, took out a candle, and hav¬ 
ing lighted it, placed it beside us. All was 
now going on well, when the wife, who had 
been absent for a few minutes,, suddenly re¬ 
turning, poured forth a volley of the most 
terrible execrations against her poor husband 
for having presumed to have acted as he had 
done. Unable to answer a single word, the 
fellow stood aghast, ignorant of what he had 
done to offend her; we were quite at a loss 
also to know what could have given rise to 
such a sudden storm; the wife, however, 
snatching up the candle, and hastily extin¬ 
guishing it, addressed us in a plaintive tone of 
voice, and explained the whole affair. It was- 
the holy candle—La chandelle foenite/' 
which her giddy husband had set on the table ;; 
it had been consecrated at a neighbouring 
church, and supposing there should be a tem¬ 
pest at any time, with thunder and lightning 
ever so terrible, yet if the candle were but 
kept burning while it lasted, the house, the 
barn, and every thing else belonging to it,, 
were to be secured from all danger. If any of 
the family happened to be sick, the candle was 
to be lighted, and they were instantly to re¬ 
cover. It had been given to her that morn¬ 
ing by the priest of the village, with an assur¬ 
ance that it possessed the miraculous power of 
