Chapter 57 Volume 7: The Shangmadi Case

Not all of what we are about to read was known in M. sur M., but what was known made a deep impression in that town; would be a major flaw in the book. In those subtle plots, readers will encounter two or three incidents that seem impossible to be true, but we still preserve them in order to respect the facts. On the afternoon of Javert's visit, M. Madeleine went to see Fantine as usual. Before he entered Fantine's ward, he had sent for Sister Sanpris. The two nuns who served in the sanatorium were called Sisters Perpedia and Sister Sanpris, and they were Sisters of the Mission, like all the other Sisters of Charity.

Sister Perpedia was a very ordinary country girl, a vulgar, charitable service, and a conversion to God, which was no more than employment.She was a priest as others were cooks.That kind of person is by no means rare.The abbeys of the various churches are happy to house those ungainly country bastards who turn into Capuchins or Saint-Ursula nuns with a single gesture of the hand.A country temperament like that can do some heavy work for religion.There is nothing out of place in changing a shepherd boy into a carmelite; from the one into the other there is little difficulty. The country and the monastery are both ignorant, and their common ground is already there, so Villagers can sit on an equal footing with monks.If the blouse is loosened a bit, it becomes a monk's robe.Sister Naperpedim is a strong and strong nun, born in the city of Marling near Pontoise, with a native accent, likes to chatter, chatters, and weighs the medicine according to the degree of faith or hypocrisy of the patient. the amount of sugar, the often brusque sickness, flirting with the dying, nearly throwing God in their faces, angrily reciting prayers to the dying, reckless, honest, cinnabar-faced.

Sister Sanpris was as white as pewter.She was like a thin candle next to a tallow candle beside Mother Perpedia.Lord Miso has wonderfully portrayed some of the charitable sisters in these famous words, and combined their freedom and servitude: "Their monasteries are but hospitals, and their retreats are but A rented house, the temple is only their parish chapel, the cloisters are the streets of the city and the wards of the hospital, the walls are but obedience, the iron bars are but the fear of God, and the veils are but good looks." Mumu embodies that ideal perfectly.No one could tell how old Sister Sanpris was; she had never been young, and seemed never to be old.It was a quiet, serious, friendly, cold person who never lied, and we dare not call her a woman.She is kind to the point of fragility, strong as granite.She touched the patient with her slender white fingers.In her speech, we can say, there is silence, she speaks only what is necessary, and the sound of her voice can build a confessional seat and beautify a living room at the same time.The delicacy and fineness of her tweed dress complement each other wonderfully, and the rough feeling it gives people reminds people of heaven and God.There is one other small matter that should be emphasized.She never lied, never uttered a word that was not true, not really true, for any purpose or for no purpose, and this was the distinguishing character of Sister Sanpris, and one of her virtues.She is almost legendary in the church for her unshakable integrity.Priest Sigal spoke of Sister Sanpris in a letter to the deaf-mute Massio.However sincere, faithful, and pure we may be, we all have some small, harmless fissures of lies in our consciences.And she, not at all.Small lies, harmless lies, does such a thing exist?Lying is an absolute evil.It is not okay to tell a little bit of a lie; to tell a lie is to tell a whole lie; to lie is the true face of the devil; Satan has two names, he is called Satan, and he is also called a lie.That's what she thinks.And she does what she thinks.So she had that whiteness of which we have spoken, and that white radiance envelops her lips and her eyes.Her smile is white, her eyes are white.There is not a speck of dust, not a speck of cobweb on that crystal of conscience.When she took refuge in Master Mize, she specially chose Sanpris as her name.We know that Sanpris of Sicily was a saint, that she was born in Syracuse, and that she might have saved her life by telling a lie that she had been born in Seguiste, but she would rather have Take off her breasts, and refuse to lie.This Holy Maiden is exactly the same mind as Sister Sanpris.

When Sister Sanpris joined the church, she had two weaknesses, which she has gradually overcome; she used to have a sweet tooth and liked letters sent to her.She used to read only a prayer-book in large letters in Latin.She doesn't know Latin, but she knows the book. The devout virgin, feeling perhaps in the congeniality of Fantine's heart, was almost devoted to Fantine's care. M. Madeleine took Sister Sanpris aside, and bade her take care of Fantine in a voice which the Sister did not recall till later. He left the sister, and went to Fantine's side. Fantine waited every day for the presence of M. Madeleine, as if waiting for a warm and joyful light.She used to say to those sisters:

"If Mr. Mayor doesn't come, I really can't live." That day, her temperature was very high.As soon as she saw M. Madeleine, she asked him: "Where is Cosette?" He replied with a smile: "coming soon." M. Madeleine treated Fantine as usual.But on weekdays he stayed only half an hour, but on this day he stayed an hour, which greatly pleased Fantine.He repeatedly asked everyone not to let the patient lack anything.It was noticed that at one point he looked very gloomy.Later everyone knew that the doctor had whispered in his ear that "her physical strength has greatly weakened", and they understood the reason for his gloomy expression.

Later, when he returned to the city hall, the office waiter saw him studying a map of French roads hanging in his office.He also wrote a few figures on a piece of paper with a pencil.