Received into a hospitable family--Fluctuating feelings--Visits from
several persons--Father Phelan's declarations against me in his
church--Interviews with a Journeyman Carpenter--Arguments with him.
In the morning I received an invitation to go to the house of a
respectable Protestant, an old inhabitant of the city, who had been
informed of my situation; and although I felt hardly able to move, I
proceeded thither in a cariole, and was received with a degree of
kindness, and treated with such care, that I must ever retain a lively
gratitude towards the family.
On Saturday I had a visit from Dr. Robertson, to whose house I had been
taken soon after my rescue from drowning. He put a few questions to me,
and soon withdrew.
On Monday, after the close of mass, a Canadian man came in, and entered
into conversation with the master of the house in an adjoining room. He
was, as I understood, a journeyman carpenter, and a Catholic, and
having heard that a fugitive nun was somewhere in the city, began to
speak on the subject in French. I was soon informed that Father Phelan
had just addressed his congregation with much apparent excitement about
myself; and thus the carpenter had received his information. Father
Phelan's words, according to what I heard said by numerous witnesses at
different times, must have been much like the following:--
"There is a certain nun now in this city, who has left our faith, and
joined the Protestants. She has a child, of which she is ready to swear
I am the father. She would be glad in this way to take away my gown
from me. If I knew where to find her, I would put her in prison. I
mention this to guard you against being deceived by what she may say.
The devil has such a hold upon people now-a-days, that there is danger
that some might believe her story."
Before he concluded his speech, as was declared, he burst into tears,
and appeared to be quite overcome. When the congregation had been
dismissed, a number of them came round him, and he told some of them,
that I was Antichrist; I was not a human being, as he was convinced,
but an evil spirit, who had got among the Catholics, and been admitted
into the nunnery, where I had learnt the rules so that I could repeat
them. My appearance, he declared, was a fulfilment of prophecy, as
Antichrist is foretold to be coming, in order to break down, if
possible, the Catholic religion.
The journeyman carpenter had entered the house where I lodged under
these impressions, and had conversed some time on the subject, without
any suspicion that I was near. After he had railed against me with much
violence, as I afterwards learned, the master of the house informed him
that he knew something of the nun, and mentioned that she charged the
priests of the Seminary with crimes of an awful character; in reply to
which the carpenter expressed the greatest disbelief.
"You can satisfy yourself," said the master of the house, "if you will
take the trouble to step up stairs: for she lives in my family."
"I see her!" he exclaimed--"No, I would not see the wretched creature
for any thing. I wonder you are not afraid to have her in your
house--she will bewitch you all--the evil spirit!"
After some persuasion, however, he came into the room where I was
sitting, but looked at me with every appearance of dread and curiosity;
and his exclamations, and subsequent conversation, in Canadian French,
were very ludicrous.
"Eh bien," he began on first seeing me, "c'est ici la malheureuse?"
[Well, is this the poor creature?] But he stood at a distance, and
looked at me with curiosity and evident fear. I asked him to sit down,
and tried to make him feel at his ease, by speaking in a mild and
pleasant tone. He soon became so far master of himself, as to enter
into conversation. "I understood," said he, "that she has said very
hard things against the priests. How can that be true?" "I can easily
convince you," said I, "that they do what they ought not, and commit
crimes of the kind I complain of. You are married, I suppose?" He
assented. "You confessed, I presume, on the morning of your wedding
day?" He acknowledged that he did. "Then did not the priest tell you at
confession, that he had had intercourse with your intended bride, but
that it was for her sanctification, and that you must never reproach
her with it?"
This question instantly excited him, but he did not hesitate a moment
to answer it. "Yes," replied he; "and that looks black enough." I had
put the question to him, because I knew the practice to which I alluded
had prevailed at St. Denis while I was there, and believed it to be
universal, or at least very common in all the Catholic parishes of
Canada. I thought I had reason to presume, that every Catholic, married
in Canada, had had such experience, and that an allusion to the conduct
of the priest in this particular, must compel any of them to admit that
my declarations were far from being incredible. This was the effect on
the mind of the simple mechanic; and from that moment he made no more
serious questions concerning my truth and sincerity, during that
interview.
Further conversation ensued, in the course of which I expressed the
willingness which I have often declared, to go into the Convent and
point out things which would confirm, to any doubting person, the truth
of my heaviest accusations against the priests and nuns. At length he
withdrew, and afterwards entered, saying that he had been to the
Convent to make inquiries concerning me. He assured me that he had been
told that although I had once belonged to the nunnery, I was called St.
Jacques, and not St. Eustace; and that now they would not own or
recognize me. Then he began to curse me, but yet sat down, as if
disposed for further conversation. It seemed, as if he was affected by
the most contrary feelings, and in rapid succession. One of the things
he said, was to persuade me to leave Montreal. "I advise you," said he,
"to go away to-morrow." I replied that I was in no haste, and might
stay a month longer.
Then he fell to cursing me once more: but the next moment broke out
against the priests, calling them all the names he could think of. His
passion became so high against them, that he soon began to rub himself,
as the low Canadians, who are apt to be very passionate, sometimes do,
to calm their feelings, when they are excited to a painful degree.
After this explosion he again became quite tranquil, and turning to me
in a frank and friendly manner, said: "I will help you in your measures
against the priests: but tell me, first--you are going to print a book,
are you not?" "No," said I, "I have no thoughts of that."
Then he left the house again, and soon returned, saying he had been in
the Seminary, and seen a person who had known me in the nunnery, and
said I had been only a novice, and that he would not acknowledge me
now. I sent back word by him, that I would show one spot in the nunnery
that would prove I spoke the truth. Thus he continued to go and return
several times, saying something of the kind every time, until I became
tired of him. He was so much enraged once or twice during some of the
interviews, that I felt somewhat alarmed; and some of the family heard
him swearing as he went down stairs: "Ah, sacre--that is too black!"
He came at last, dressed up like a gentleman, and told me he was ready
to wait on me to the nunnery. I expressed my surprise that he should
expect me to go with him alone, and told him I had never thought of
going without some protector, still assuring, that with any person to
secure my return, I would cheerfully go all over the nunnery, and show
sufficient evidence of the truth of what I alleged.
My feelings continued to vary: I was sometimes fearful, and sometimes
so courageous as to think seriously of going into the Recollet church
during mass, with my child in my arms, and calling upon the priest to
own it. And this I am confident I should have done, but for the
persuasions used to prevent me. [Footnote: I did not make up my mind
(so far as I remember), publicly to proclaim who was the father of my
child, unless required to do so, until I learnt that Father Phelan had
denied it.]