To the wild, hilarious
dissipation of Laval, the nearest town, he fell an immediate and
unresisting prey. Think of the glittering lamps, the sparkling taverns,
the bright-eyed women, the manifold fascinations, which are the
character and delight of this forgotten city! Why, if the Abbe Bruneau
doled out comfort and absolution at Entrammes--why should he not enjoy
at Laval the wilder joys of the flesh? Lack of money was the only
hindrance, since our priest was not of those who could pursue bonnes
fortunes; ever he sighed for 'booze and the blowens,' but 'booze and the
blowens' he could only purchase with the sovereigns his honest calling
denied him. There was no resource but thievery and embezzlement, sins
which led sometimes to falsehood or incendiarism, and at a pinch to
the graver enterprise of murder. But Bruneau was not one to boggle at
trifles. Women he would encounter--young or old, dark or fair, ugly or
beautiful, it was all one to him--and the fools who withheld him riches
must be punished for their niggard hand. For a while a theft here and
there, a cunning extortion of money upon the promise of good works,
sufficed for his necessities, but still he hungered for a coup, and
patiently he devised and watched his opportunity.
Meanwhile his cunning protected him, and even if the gaze of suspicion
fell upon him he contrived his orgies with so neat a discretion that the
Church, which is not wont to expose her malefactors, preserved a
timid and an innocent silence.
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