Grace

Despite being prideful, gluttonous, wrathful, envious, slothful and avaricious, Duperrier felt his soul was still perfumed with innocence. Although they were deadly, the six sins he had cultivated were nonetheless those which a child might confess upon his first communion without losing hope. The inordinately deadly sin of lust horrified him. It seemed to him that the others were consummated almost out of God's sight. For the others, whether it constituted a sin or just a peccadillo was a matter of dosage. But lust was full consent to the devil's work. Nocturnal enchantments foreshadowed the burning darkness of hell; darting tongues reminded him of the eternal flames, and as for moans of sensual delight and contorted bodies, they were practically the abominable wails of the damned and the tortured flesh of unending agony. Duperrier hadn't saved lust for last; he had simply refused to consider it. Even Mme. Duperrier was uneasy thinking about it. For many years, the couple had lived in a delightful state of chastity, and until the halo, every night had been a dream of white muslin. Thinking back on those years of continence made Mme. Duperrier feel bitter, because she was sure that the halo had been their reward. Only lust could undo the lily-white halo.