Grace

One evening at Place Pigalle, he met an already fallen young thing of twenty named Marie-Jannick. It is believed that the poet Maurice Fombeure wrote these charming verses in her honor:

'Tis Marie-Jannick
From Landivisiau
Killing a tick
Beneath her big toe.

Marie-Jannick had come from Brittany six months earlier in order to work as a maid for a city councilman who was a socialist and an atheist. She couldn't bear to work for these godless people, so she bravely made her living on the Boulevard de Clichy. Duperrier's halo could hardly fail to make a very strong impression on this religious little soul. To Marie-Jannick, he seemed the equal of Saint Yves and Saint Ronan. For his part, it wasn't long before he realized the influence he held over her, and he did not resist the temptation to turn this to practical advantage.