‘My Lord! you have this morning publicly attacked my character, by asserting that my conduct has been “scandalous and immoral.” I demand of you, before these my brother priests, to state the grounds upon which you base that charge.’ The bishop, taking the arm of his suffragan, did not even turn to look at the curé, but began to speak rapidly to his brother prelate. ‘My Lord! are you going to answer me, or are you not?’ again asked Lindet. ‘I appeal to you as a Christian--not as a bishop. You have damaged my character. State frankly your reasons for doing so. Give me an opportunity of clearing myself.’ He had spoken calmly so far, but all at once his natural impetuosity overpowered him, and he burst forth with the sentence: ‘Stay! you have just genuflected towards the Host! you have bent the knee in homage to Him who is Mercy and Justice, whose minister you are. In His name I demand justice. Mercy I have long ago ceased to expect.’ ‘I had rather be keeper of a lunatic asylum,’ said the Bishop of Lisieux, ‘than be custos of a herd of wild curés.’ The Bishop of Évreux laughed aloud. The laugh echoed through the aisles, and was heard by the priests, as he laid his hand on the private door. The dense black mass of clerics rose, and the bishop darted through the door with purple cheek and blazing eye, as a hiss, long and fierce, broke from that body of priests he shepherded. ‘Barbarians! blackguards!’ said the bishop, shaking his fist at the Cathedral, as he shut the door behind him and quenched that terrible sound. ‘Wait! I have chastised you hitherto with whips; when these States-General are over, I shall thrash you into subserviency with scorpions.’ CHAPTER XVI. On the following day, March 17, the three orders betook themselves to their several places of reunion, to draw up their memorials of grievances. The clergy assembled in the hall of the Seminary of S. Taurinus under the presidency of the bishop of the diocese, assisted by the Bishop of Lisieux, Féron de la Ferronnais. The nobility met in the Church of S. Nicholas, with the grand bailiff as their chairman, and the third estate occupied the audience chamber of the Viscount’s court, and was presided over by M. Girardin. The deliberations of the third estate presented no incident worthy of note. Unanimity reigned among the members, and its resolutions were in accordance with, and had indeed been prepared by, the discussions conducted in the earlier stages of election. What were the pressing grievances weighing on the people, have been already shown. The _cahiers_ from the villages and towns which were read before it threw a clear light also on ecclesiastical abuses; the principal we shall extract from these documents for the edification of the reader.