{"product_id":"2940013756175","title":"Father Macclesfield'S Tale","description":"Father Meuron was very voluble at supper on the Saturday. He\u003cbr\u003eexclaimed; he threw out his hands; his bright black eyes shone above\u003cbr\u003ehis rosy cheeks, and his hair appeared to stand more on end than I had\u003cbr\u003eever known it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe sat at the further side of the horse-shoe table from myself, and I\u003cbr\u003ewas able to remark on his gaiety to the English priest who sat beside\u003cbr\u003eme without fear of being overheard.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFather Brent smiled.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"He is drunk with la gloire,\" he said. \"He is to tell the story to-\u003cbr\u003enight.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis explained everything.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI did not look forward, however, to his recital. I was confident that\u003cbr\u003eit would be full of tinsel and swooning maidens who ended their days\u003cbr\u003ein convents under Father Meuron's spiritual direction; and when we\u003cbr\u003ecame upstairs I found a shadowy corner, a little back from the\u003cbr\u003esemicircle, where I could fall asleep if I wished without provoking\u003cbr\u003eremark.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn fact, I was totally unprepared for the character of his narrative.\u003cbr\u003eWhen we had all taken our places, and Monsignor's pipe was properly\u003cbr\u003ealight, and himself at full length in his deck chair, the Frenchman\u003cbr\u003ebegan. He told his story in his own language; but I am venturing to\u003cbr\u003erender it in English as nearly as I am able.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"My contribution to the histories,\" he began, seated in his upright\u003cbr\u003earm-chair in the centre of the circle, a little turned away from me---\u003cbr\u003e\"my contribution to the histories which these good priests are to\u003cbr\u003erecite is an affair of exorcism. That is a matter with which we who\u003cbr\u003elive in Europe are not familiar in these days. It would seem, I\u003cbr\u003esuppose, that grace has a certain power, accumulating through the\u003cbr\u003ecenturies, of saturating even physical objects with its force. However\u003cbr\u003emen may rebel, yet the sacrifices offered and the prayers poured out\u003cbr\u003ehave a faculty of holding Satan in check and preventing his more\u003cbr\u003eformidable manifestations. Even in my own poor country at this hour,\u003cbr\u003ein spite of widespread apostasy, in spite even of the deliberate\u003cbr\u003eworship of Satan, yet grace is in the air; and it is seldom indeed\u003cbr\u003ethat a priest has to deal with a case of possession. In your\u003cbr\u003erespectable England, too, it is the same; the simple piety of\u003cbr\u003eProtestants has kept alive to some extent the force of the Gospel.\u003cbr\u003eHere in this country of Italy it is somewhat different. The old powers\u003cbr\u003ehave survived the Christian assault, and while they cannot live in\u003cbr\u003eHoly Rome, there are corners where they do so.\"","brand":"WDS Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47079661306096,"sku":"2940013756175","price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013756175_p0.jpg?v=1763589854","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013756175","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}