Monsieur de Beuvre had happened to say to Monsieur de Bois-Doré in his presence: "How about your new priest? does he still preach sermons after the pattern of the League?" This expression had attracted the Spaniard's attention. "If this priest is zealous for the good cause," he thought, "he may be a useful friend to me; for that De Beuvre is a Huguenot, and Bois-Doré with his tolerance is little better. Who knows if I shall be able to live, on friendly terms with such people?" He began by inspecting the church, and was scandalized by its dilapidated and bare condition, which bore witness to the neglect of the last incumbent, the indifference of the lord of the manor, and the lukewarmness of the parishioners. Bois-Doré, whose abjuration, real or feigned, had caused a sensation, had not thought of signalizing his return to orthodoxy by gifts to the village church and alms to the chaplain. His vassals, who hated the Huguenots, had not hailed his final return, in 1610, with truly heartfelt rejoicing; but their suspicions had speedily given place to a deep attachment, since, in place of a steward who drained them dry, they had found a free-and-easy lord, lavish of benefactions. Thus the good people of the village of Briantes were only moderately devout; and, the peasants having resisted the payment of tithes to some monastery or other, the archbishop had sent them a man exceedingly well adapted to lead those stray lambs back to virtuous principles, and to spy upon the châtelain's opinions. The pious Sciarra knelt in the church and murmured some formula of prayer; but he did not feel inclined to pray with the heart, and he soon went out and bent his steps toward the rector's house. He had not the trouble of going all the way thither; for he saw him in the village square talking with Bellinde, and had an opportunity to examine him. He was a man still young, with a bilious, wheedling, treacherous face. Probably his interest in temporal affairs was as keen as D'Alvimar's; for he had no sooner spied that grave and fashionably dressed stranger coming from the church, than his only thought was to wonder who he could be. He knew already that a new guest had arrived at the manor-house the night before, for he had little other occupation than to make inquiries about the marquis's doings; but how could a man, so devout as this early visit of D'Alvimar's to the church seemed to indicate, consort with so problematical a convert as Bois-Doré? While he tried to obtain information on that subject from the housekeeper at the château, he noticed that he could not look up without finding the stranger's eyes fixed upon him. He walked a few steps with Bellinde, in order to avoid his gaze, like one who did not wish to risk a salutation before he knew with whom he had to deal.