He is right.

You may always explain: you never are understood." "There are signs--" said Paul Vence.
"Don't you think, Monsieur Vence, that signs also are a form of hieroglyphics?
Give me news of Monsieur Choulette.

I do not see him any more." Vence replied that Choulette was very busy in forming the Third Order of Saint Francis.
"The idea, Madame, came to him in a marvellous fashion one day when he had gone to call on his Maria in the street where she lives, behind the public hospital--a street always damp, the houses on which are tottering.

You must know that he considers Maria the saint and martyr who is responsible for the sins of the people.
"He pulled the bell-rope, made greasy by two centuries of visitors.
Either because the martyr was at the wine-shop, where she is familiarly known, or because she was busy in her room, she did not open the door.
Choulette rang for a long time, and so violently that the bellrope remained in his hand.

Skilful at understanding symbols and the hidden meaning of things, he understood at once that this rope had not been detached without the permission of spiritual powers.