I discovered it in a little shop down by the quay," said Durtal.
"I see," he went on after a silence, "that the tradition of unspeakable crimes has been maintained by worthy successors of Gilles de Rais.

I see that in all centuries there have been fallen priests who have dared commit sins against the Holy Ghost.

But at the present time it all seems incredible.

Surely nobody is cutting children's throats as in the days of Bluebeard and of abbe Guibourg." "You mean that nobody is brought to justice for doing it.

They don't assassinate now, but they kill designated victims by methods unknown to official science--ah, if the confessionals could speak!" cried the bell-ringer.
"But tell me, what class of people are these modern covenanters with the Devil ?" "Prelates, abbesses, mission superiors, confessors of communities; and in Rome, the centre of present-day magic, they're the very highest dignitaries," answered Des Hermies.