"Who are you, sir, that say to me what I shall do, the Church's law despite ?" Garnache took the Abbot by the sleeve of his rough habit and drew him gently towards the window.

There was a persuasive smile on his lips and in his keen eyes which the monk, almost unconsciously, obeyed.
"I will tell you," said Garnache, "and at the same time I shall seek to turn you from your harsh purpose." At the hour at which Monsieur de Garnache was seeking to persuade the Abbot of Saint Francis of Cheylas to adopt a point of view more kindly towards a dead man, Madame de Condillac was at dinner, and with her was Valerie de La Vauvraye.

Neither woman ate appreciably.

The one was oppressed by sorrow, the other by anxiety, and the circumstance that they were both afflicted served perhaps to render the Dowager gentler in her manner towards the girl.
She watched the pale face and troubled eyes of Valerie; she observed the almost lifeless manner in which she came and went as she was bidden, as though a part of her had ceased to exist, and that part the part that matters most.

It did cross her mind that in this condition mademoiselle might the more readily be bent to their will, but she dwelt not overlong upon that reflection.