登陆注册
5387500000099

第99章

The archbishop, standing behind her, and as if protecting her with the pastoral cross, abandoned his impassible demeanor and covered his eyes with his right hand. A muffled cry was heard, as though some one were dying. Two persons, Gerard and Roubaud, received and carried away in their arms, Denise Tascheron, unconscious. That sight seemed for an instant to quench the fire in Veronique's eyes; she was evidently uneasy; but soon her self-control and serenity of martyrdom resumed their sway.

"You now know," she continued, "that I deserve neither praise or blessing for my conduct here. I have led in sight of Heaven, a secret life of bitter penance which Heaven will estimate. My life before men has been an immense reparation for the evils I have caused; I have marked my repentance ineffaceably on the earth; it will last almost eternally here below. It is written on those fertile fields, in the prosperous village, in the rivulets brought from the mountains to water the plain once barren and fruitless, now green and fertile. Not a tree will be cut for a hundred years to come but the people of this region will know of the remorse that made it grow. My repentant soul will still live here among you. What you will owe to its efforts, to a fortune honorably acquired, is the heritage of its repentance,--the repentance of her who caused the crime. All has been repaired so far as society is concerned; but I am still responsible for that life, crushed in its bud,--a life confided to me and for which I am now required to render an account."

The flame of her eyes was veiled in tears.

"There is here, before me, a man," she continued, "who, because he did his duty strictly, has been to me an object of hatred which I thought eternal. He was the first inflictor of my punishment. My feet were still too deep in blood, I was too near the deed, not to hate justice.

So long as that root of anger lay in my heart, I knew there was still a lingering remnant of condemnable passion. I had nothing to forgive that man, I have only had to purify that corner of my heart where Evil lurked. However hard it may have been to win that victory, it is won."

Monsieur de Grandville turned a face to Veronique that was bathed in tears. Human justice seemed at that moment to feel remorse. When the confessing woman raised her head as if to continue, she met the agonizing look of old man Grossetete, who stretched his supplicating hands to her as if to say, "Enough, enough!" At the same instant a sound of tears and sobs was heard. Moved by such sympathy, unable to bear the balm of this general pardon, she was seized with faintness.

Seeing that her daughter's vital force was gone at last, the old mother summoned the vigor of her youth to carry her away.

"Christians," said the archbishop, "you have heard the confession of that penitent woman; it confirms the sentence of human justice. You ought to see in this fresh reason to join your prayers to those of the Church which offers to God the holy sacrifice of the mass, to implore his mercy in favor of so deep a repentance."

The services went on. Veronique, lying on the bed, followed them with a look of such inward contentment that she seemed, to every eye, no longer the same woman. On her face was the candid and virtuous expression of the pure young girl such as she had been in her parents' home. The dawn of eternal life was already whitening her brow and glorifying her face with its celestial tints. Doubtless she heard the mystic harmonies, and gathered strength to live from her desire to unite herself once more with God in the last communion. The rector came beside the bed and gave her absolution. The archbishop administered the sacred oils with a fatherly tenderness that showed to all there present how dear the lost but now recovered lamb had been to him. Then, with the sacred anointing, he closed to the things of earth those eyes which had done such evil, and laid the seal of the Church upon the lips that were once too eloquent. The ears, by which so many evil inspirations had penetrated her mind, were closed forever. All the senses, deadened by repentance, were thus sanctified, and the spirit of evil could have no further power within her soul.

Never did assistants of this ceremony more fully understand the grandeur and profundity of the sacrament than those who now saw the acts of the Church justly following the confession of that dying woman.

同类推荐
  • 上清金书玉字上经

    上清金书玉字上经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 高丽国普照禅师修心诀

    高丽国普照禅师修心诀

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 瀋陽日記

    瀋陽日記

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 密行忍禅师语录

    密行忍禅师语录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 归有光集

    归有光集

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 十年荣光·与光同成灰

    十年荣光·与光同成灰

    本书以作者回忆从编辑到总编的成长历程为主。将介绍作者年轻时南漂&北漂的经历,文字从业经验,职场心得,以及打造飞言情等一系列成功书系的过程。讲述如何从一个初入社会的女孩,练就强大内心,成为职场女王的历程。
  • 战争论

    战争论

    马基雅维利是西方思想史上遭受非难最多的伟大思想家,他的思想对政治生活中的道德基础产生了重大威胁。
  • 土地使用权出让与转让

    土地使用权出让与转让

    本书以现实生活中出现的真实案例、问题为出发点,有机结合《土地管理法》等与其相关条例、司法解释,采取了“宣讲要点”“典型案例”“专家评析”和“法条指引”的结构编写而成。既可以让读者了解一般的案件审判知识,又可以了解有一定深度的相关法理,内容层次循序渐进,易于理解和掌握。
  • 樱满集的无限综漫

    樱满集的无限综漫

    新书《这就是我想要的重生吗》已发布,日常系二次元文
  • 倾尽一生,囚你无期

    倾尽一生,囚你无期

    好朋友拿我的身份证去裸贷,我的人生变得惨痛不堪。许莫骞是救我的人,却也让我的感情从此万劫不复。爱他,是我不能说出口的秘密。当我下定决心逃离,他却又……--情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • A Confederacy of Dunces

    A Confederacy of Dunces

    A Confederacy of Dunces is an American comic masterpiece. John Kennedy Toole's hero, one Ignatius J. Reilly, is "huge, obese, fractious, fastidious, a latter-day Gargantua, a Don Quixote of the French Quarter. His story bursts with wholly original characters, denizens of New Orleans' lower depths, incredibly true-to-life dialogue, and the zaniest series of high and low comic adventures" (Henry Kisor, Chicago Sun-Times).
  • 记丁玲 记丁玲续集

    记丁玲 记丁玲续集

    这是“沈从文散文新编”书系之一,收入沈从文关于丁玲的两种集子《记丁玲》和《记丁玲 续集》,作者以质朴的情感、素朴的语言记叙了胡也频和丁玲的故事,以及丁玲早期步入文坛的契机。现时也记下了在那个年代里的年代中,三个朋友相濡以沫的不凡友谊。
  • 快穿之逆袭女

    快穿之逆袭女

    无cp【全书免费,更新随缘】注:女主绝不傻白甜强者之路——注孤生。且看她快穿之路之茫茫。打得了怪兽,捉得了鬼,虐得了渣渣,踢得了渣男:装得了萝莉(暴力萝莉)扮得了蜀黍:卖得了萌,耍得了帅:……脸…可要可不要是终身代语.永远耍酷永远装嫩永远不知好歹。
  • 穿越之撩人盛宠

    穿越之撩人盛宠

    睁眼醒来发现自己竟然穿越到了神秘的蛮荒,长得丑能被宠上天。尽管女主身怀异能,女汉子指数爆表,也抵挡不住丈夫帅气十足、温柔体贴。走开走开,再吵休了你!
  • 世界如此残酷 我们要内心强大

    世界如此残酷 我们要内心强大

    你是不是曾经因为遭遇不公平对待而气愤不已?你是不是曾经因为一些不可理喻的事情而暴跳如雷?你是不是曾经因为不够自信而导致事情一败涂地?你是不是曾经因为生活中的一点儿小事而闷闷不乐?我们无法改变环境,但可以改变心态。《世界如此残酷,我们要内心强大》作者马银文以“如何让自己变得内心强大”为核心,用通俗的语言、生动的案例进行了深入分析,详细介绍了面对各种情况、各种环境要怎样战胜自己,以及怎样培养建设一个强大的内心。