LIST OF CHAPTERS.

I. THE CURE.

II. THE CONFESSIONAL.

III. THE PARSONAGE.

IV. EXPECTATION.

V. THE MEETING.

VI. THE LOOK.

VII. THE SALUTE.

VIII. THE FEVER.

IX. DURING VESPERS.

X. IN PARENTHESIS.

XI. THE FLESH.

XII. THE TEMPTATION.

XIII. THE RESOLUTION.

XIV. THE CAPTAIN.

XV. MEMORIES.

XVI. THE EPAULET.

XVII. THE VOLTAIRIAN.

XVIII. THE VISIT.

XIX. HARD WORDS.

XX. KICKS.

XXI. THE PAST.

XXII. THE SERVANT.

XXIII. THE LETTER

XXIV. THE FIRST MEETING.

XXV. LOVE.

XXVI. OF YOUNG GIRLS IN GENERAL.

XXVII. OF SUZANNE IN PARTICULAR.

XXVIII. THE SHADOW.

XXIX. OTHER MEETINGS.

XXX. SERAPHIC LOVE.

XXXI. THE VIRGIN.

XXXIII. FRENZY.

XXXIV. THE PROHIBITION.

XXXV. THE SHELTER.

XXXVI. THE HOT WINE.

XXXVI. TeTE -TeTE.

XXXVIII THE KISS.

XXXIX. THE DEVIL IN PETTICOATS.

XL. LITTLE CONFESSIONS.

XLI. MORAL REFLECTIONS.

XLII. MEMORY LOOKING BACK.

XLIII. ESPIONAGE.

XLIV. THE GARRET WINDOW.

XLV. TREACHEROUS MANOEUVRE.

XLVI. THE LETTER.

XLVII. GOOD NEWS.

XLVIII. RECONCILIATION.

L. MAMMOSA VIRGO!

LI. CHAMBER MORALITY.

LII. THE POSSET.

LIII. THE LEG.

LIV. MATER SAEVA CUPIDINUM.

LV. IN THE FOOT-PATH.

LVI. DOUBLE REMORSE.

LVII. THE EXPLOSION.

LVIII. PROVOCATION.

LIX. ACTS AND WORDS.

LX. TALKS.

LXI. LE PERE HYACINTHE.

LXII. THE HAPPY CURE

LXIII. THE MIRACLES.

LXIV. THE TWO AUGURS.

LXV. TABLE TALK.

LXVI. GOOD COUNSEL.

LXVII. IN A GLASS.

LXVIII. THE ROSE CHAMBER.

LXIX. THE GUST OF WIND.

LXX. THE AMBUSCADE.

LXXI. THE BREACH.

LXXII. THE ASSAULT.

LXXIII. AUDACES FORTUNA JUVAT.

LXXIV. BEFORE MASS.

LXXV. DURING MASS.

LXXVI. AWAKENING.

LXXVII. CONSOLATIONS.

LXXVIII. FALSE ALARM.

LXXIX IN THE DILIGENCE

LXXX. AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE.

LXXXI. A LITTLE CONFESSION

LXXXII. THE CHURCH-WOMAN.

LXXXIII. CONVENTICLE.

LXXXIV. AT THE PALACE.

LXXXV. LITTLE PASTIMES.

LXXXVI. SERIOUS TALK.

LXXXVII. THE SEMINARY.

LXXXVIII. THE FAIR ONE.

LXXXIX. LOVE AGAIN.

XC. LE CYGNE DE LA CROIX.

XCI. THE CALVES.

XCII. THE SCAPULAR

XCIII. FROM THE DARK TO THE FAIR.

XCIV. THE CHANGE.

XCV. THE CURE OF ST. MARIE.

XCVI. FINIS CORONAT OPUS.

THE AUTHOR AND HIS WORKS.

Title: The Grip of Desire

Author: Hector France

Language: English

[Illustration: DÉbut d'une sÉrie de documents en couleur.]

Love is a familiar; love is a devil; there is no evil angel but love. Yet was Samson so tempted, and he had an excellent strength; yet was Solomon so seduced, and he had a very good wit.

Love's Labour Lost.

With an engraved portrait of the Author

Other Works in English

By
HECTOR FRANCE

Mansour's Chastisement, the Loves and Intrigues of an Arab Don Juan, done into English by ALFRED ALLINSON, and embellished with Seven fine Engravings by THEVENIN, after Drawings by BAZEILHAC.

Musk, Hashish and Blood, with Twenty-One
Engravings by PAUL AVRIL. (In the Press.)

The Attack on the Brothels, A Realistic
Account of the Civilizing of "Barbarians". With
Illustrations. (In Hand.)

The Daughter of the Christ; The most original and philosophic work of the last twenty years. This work will be sumptuously illustrated by leading French Artists. (In Preparation.)

[Illustration: Fin d'une sÉrie de documents en couleur.]

[Illustration: the author.]

[Illustration]

TO THE READER

The truth, the bitter truth.

DANTON.

  Oh, sons and brothers, oh, poets
  When the thing exists, speak the word.

V. HUGO.

I do not assert that all the personages in this story are models of virtue. To some of them has been given a part which severe morality reproves. But I am a realist and not an idealist, and for that I beg the reader a thousand pardons. I have tried to paint what I saw and not that of which I dreamed. If my figures are not chaste, the fault is not mine, but of those who passed before me and whose features I sketched as my pen ran on.

You are warned therefore, Madam, that when you open this book, you will not find a "Treatise on Morality". Here are only the simple and pastoral loves of a poor and obscure village priest. An idyll in the shade of the parsonage limes and under the motionless eye of the weather-cock on the belfry.

If then you come across any word which offends your chaste ears, any picture which distresses your modest eye, blame only your own curiosity.

HECTOR FRANCE.