Lacarelle replied gravely, not without the kind of arrogance inseparable from his long fair moustaches. “Monsieur _le préfet_, opinions are divided with respect to this, and many people believe that Mademoiselle Deniseau is perfectly sane.” “After all, Lacarelle, you do not believe that Saint Radegonde comes every morning to chat with her and to drag the head of the State, along with the Government, down into the mire.” But Lacarelle was of opinion that there had been exaggeration, that ill-disposed persons were making the most of an extraordinary manifestation. It really was extraordinary that Mademoiselle Deniseau should prescribe sovereign remedies for incurable diseases; she had cured Jobelin, the road-mender, and an old bailiff called Favru. That was not all. She foretold events that fell out as she had said. “I can vouch for one fact, monsieur _le préfet_. Last week Mademoiselle Deniseau said: ‘There is a treasure hidden in a field called Faifeu, at Noiselles.’ They dug at the place described and discovered a great slab of stone which blocked the entrance of an underground passage.” “But, still,” cried the _préfet_, “you cannot maintain that Saint Radegonde …” He stopped, thoughtful and questioning. He was profoundly ignorant of the saintly legends of Christian Gaul and of the national antiquities of France. But at school he had studied text-books of history. He was struggling to recall his boyish recollections. “Saint Radegonde was the mother of Saint Louis?” M. Lacarelle, who knew more history, only hesitated a moment. “No,” said he, “the mother of Saint Louis was Blanche of Castille. Saint Radegonde was an earlier queen.” “Well, she cannot be allowed to perform her conjuring tricks in the county town. And you, my dear Lacarelle, you ought to make her father understand—this Deniseau, I mean to say—that he has nothing to do but to give a good flogging to his daughter and put her under lock and key.” Lacarelle smoothed his Gallic moustaches. “Monsieur _le préfet_, I advise you to go and see this Deniseau girl. She is interesting. She will give you a private sitting quite to yourself.” “You can’t mean it, Lacarelle! Fancy my going to be instructed by a little hussy that my Government is on the point of collapse!”