— 49 —
had said… As I found myself alone. I wanted to pray, to think of God alone, but nothing came before my mind except the thought of the penance that I had to undergo.
My aunt woke me up in the middle of the night. She ordered me to strip naked, she washed me from head to foot, and dressed me in a long black gown tight at the neck, but entirely divided all the way down the back.
She was dressed in exactly the same curious fashion, and we left the house together in a carriage.
An hour later, I was with her in a vast hall, hung with black drapery, and lit only by one lamp hanging from the ceiling.
In the middle there was a praying-stool surrounded by cushions. "Kneel down, my dear niece: prepare yourself with prayer to bear with patience and bravery all the punishment that God sees fit to inflict upon you."
I had scarcely had the time to obey her orders, when a secret door was opened: a monk, dressed in black like us approached me, mumbled a few words, and then pulling my frock open and letting the sides down, exposed all the hinder portion of my body.
