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SPORTS INJURIES

As more people realize the cardiovascular, metabolic and muscular benefits that regular physical activity provides, the risk for potential injury also increases. To provide successful treatment, all persons involved in the management of injuries must have a thorough understanding of the healing process of the various tissues and also be familiar with the demands of different types of sports.

Written by three world-renowned experts, Sports Injuries, Fifth Edition, comprehensively covers the prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of sports injuries. Essential reading for all athletes, coaches/ trainers, physiotherapists and doctors, the updated edition of this highly popular and well-established textbook skillfully integrates scientific background and evidence with practical application. Updated topics covered include:

● Individual risk factors for sports injuries

● Effects of physical inactivity on the tissues

● Head and face injuries in sport

● Cervical, thoracic and abdominal injuries in sport

● Back and spine injuries in sport

● Leg, knee and thigh injuries

● Outdoor activities during extreme conditions

● Ethical considerations in sports and exercise medicine

● Injuries in sport for the disabled, growing and aging athletes

Richly illustrated with more than 600 color drawings and photographs, this book covers injuries resulting from the full range of international sports. For each type of injury examined, it details the symptoms, mechanism of injury, diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation protocols and key points – clearly stating what both non-medical and medical professionals should do in each case of injury. This easyto-follow textbook features a glossary of key terms and protocols with rehabilitation exercises to provide readers with a solid understanding about how to effectively treat, rehabilitate and prevent sports injuries. This book will be of key reading to academics and students of sport medicine, sport injury, physiotherapy and sports rehabilitation as well as related disciplines.

Lars Peterson, MD, PhD, is Professor Emeritus of Orthopedics at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, former Clinical Director of the Gothenburg Medical Center and founding member and President of the International Cartilage Repair Society (ICRS). He is a former Chairman of the Swedish Society for Sports Medicine and has been a member of FIFA’s Medical Committee for more than 40 years and is one of the founding fathers of FIFA Medical Assessment and Research Center.

Per A.F.H. Renström, MD, PhD, is Professor Emeritus of Orthopedic Sports Medicine at the Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden, and was previously Professor of Sports Medicine at the University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont, USA. He is a former President of the International Society of Arthroscopy, Knee Surgery and Orthopedic Sports Medicine (ISAKOS), and a former Vice President

of the International Sports Medicine Federation (FIMS). He has been a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Medical Commission for 25 years and a member of the Medical Committee of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP).

Scott Lynch, MD, is Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at Penn State Health and Penn State College of Medicine at Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, Pennsylvania, USA. He is the Chief of the Division of Sports Medicine and the Practice Site Medical Director for the Adult Bone and Joint Institute.

SPORTS INJURIES

Prevention, Treatment and Rehabilitation

Fifth Edition

Lars Peterson, Per A.F.H. Renström and Scott Lynch

Cover Image Credit: Getty Images

Fifth edition published 2024 by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 and by Routledge 4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN

The right of Lars Peterson, Per A.F.H. Renström and Scott Lynch to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

Fourth edition published by Taylor & Francis Group, L.L.C 2017

ISBN: 978-0-367-52203-2 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-0-367-52204-9 (pbk)

ISBN: 978-1-003-05689-8 (ebk)

DOI: 10.4324/9781003056898

Typeset in Sabon by Apex CoVantage, LLC

About the authors xii

Acknowledgements xv

Preface xvii

Glossary xviii

1. Sports medicine/injuries in sports and society 1

Introduction 1

Injuries during sport, exercise and physical activity 3

Sports and Exercise Medicine in healthcare 5

Sports and Exercise Medicine background and history 6

Components of Sports Medicine and Sports and Exercise Medicine 7

Sports injuries 8

Prevention 9

Sports Science 10

Ethical considerations in Sports and Exercise Medicine 11

References 14

About the authors

Lars Peterson and Per A.F.H. Renström have co-authored the book Sports Injuries (1977, 1986, 2000, 2017), which is a worldwide bestseller. Scott Lynch, our American collaborator and friend, updated Sports Injuries for this fifth edition (2022).

The authors of this book were awarded the prestigious Duke of Edinburgh Prize for outstanding contributions to education, clinical and/or research work in the field of Sports Medicine and in the community by the Institute of Sport and Exercise Medicine in a ceremony at the House of Lords, London, UK, in 2010.

Lars Peterson, MD, PhD, is Professor Emeritus in Orthopedics, Sahlgrenska Academy, Gothenburg University, Göteborg, Sweden. Dr. Peterson graduated from Gothenburg University in 1966. During his studies he played football/soccer and ice hockey at a national elite level. He became a specialist in general surgery in 1972 and in orthopedic surgery in 1973. He was awarded a PhD in 1974 with his thesis “Fracture of the Neck of the Talus.”

Lars was a team physician for football/soccer and ice hockey teams for more than 20 years and head physician for the Swedish national teams in football/soccer and ice hockey. He has been a member of FIFA’s Medical Committee since 1979 and is one of the founding fathers of FIFA Medical Assessment and Research Center.

He has published more than 200 scientific articles on orthopedic surgery, sports medicine, rehabilitation, biomechanics, degradable synthetic materials, cell biology and therapy. He has written several textbooks, manuals and book chapters.

In 1987, Lars pioneered the treatment of articular cartilage injuries using autologous chondrocyte transplantation with cells isolated and cultured in the laboratory, the first cell therapy in orthopedics. He was a founding father of the International Cartilage Repair Society in 1997 and its president from 2001 to 2002.

He has lectured extensively nationally and internationally and received many prestigious

international and national awards. In 2007, he was one of the first Europeans to be inducted into the Hall of Fame by the AOSSM (American Orthopedic Society of Sports Medicine). In 2010, he was awarded Doctor Honoris Causa at the Medical Faculty of the University of Helsinki, Finland, and in 2011 at the Universidad Catolica de San Antonio of Murcia, Spain. In 2015, he was awarded honorary membership and the gold medal by the Swedish Football Association.

Lars has been married to Lillemor for more than 50 years and has four children and nine grandchildren.

Per A.F.H. Renström, MD, PhD, is Professor Emeritus in Orthopedic Sports Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. Dr. Renström specialized in orthopedics and sports medicine at Sahlgrenska University hospital, Göteborg, Sweden, from 1973 to 1988, at the Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation at the University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont, USA, from 1983 to 1984 and from 1988 to 1997 and at the Karolinska Institutet and University Hospital in Stockholm from 1997 to 2007, where he is now Professor Emeritus.

His main research areas include clinical management of athletic injuries, basic research in knee/

Lars Peterson.

ankle ligament and tendon biomechanics and healing. He earned a PhD in 1981 with the thesis “The Below-KneeAmputee.” Per has authored more than 400 scientific publications, including more than 200 original scientific publications in peer reviewed journals, 76 book chapters and 18 books, and he has received several prestigious research awards. Per studied at Ohio State University (OSU), Columbus, Ohio, USA, from 1961 to 1962, where he played on the OSU ice hockey team. Per is the founder and former president of the International Society of Medicine and Science in Tennis (STMS). He is an active member of the Medical Services Committee of the ATPTour and after more than 20 years of service he has recently retired from the Commission of Science and Sports Medicine of the ITF (International Tennis Federation). He also is a former physician for the Swedish Davis Cup team in tennis. Per has played soccer/football in the Swedish lower leagues for more than 30 years. He enjoyed being a physician for the Swedish as well as US teams in football/soccer. Per is now an honorary member of the Swedish Association of Football Physicians and the classic football/soccer team GAIS, where he served as team doctor for 14 years. He also served as the main physician for the Swedish Football Association for nine years. Per has been the physician for the Swedish teams to six World University Games. Per was Chair for the Special Olympics, Sweden, from 1999 to 2007 and for the Swedish Council of Sports Science from 2000 to 2008, appointed by the government. After being vice president of FIMS (International Federation of Sports Medicine) from 1990 to 1998, he received the FIMS Gold Medal in 2000. Per was president of ISAKOS (International Society of Arthroscopy, Knee surgery and Orthopedic Sports Medicine) from 2003 to 2005 and was awarded honorary membership in 2009. He was a member of the Medical and Scientific Commission of the IOC (International Olympic Committee) from 1988 to 2012 and received the IOC President’s Gold Award in 2013. Per was awarded Honorary Fellowship to the Faculty of Sports and Exercise Medicine, Royal College of Physicians and Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland in 2007, and in the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh, and by the Royal College of Physicians in London, United Kingdom in 2011. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame by AOSSM (American Orthopedic Society of Sports Medicine) in 2009.

Per has been married to Lena for more than 55 years, and they have four children and six grandchildren. He still enjoys playing tennis doubles every week with his age-rich friends followed by a 2-hour intellectual lunch.

Scott Lynch, MD, Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery, Penn State Health, Milton S Hershey Medical Center, Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania, USA. Scott did his undergraduate work at Pennsylvania State University with a major in electrical engineering. While there he won an NCAA wrestling championship in 1984. He stayed on as a graduate assistant coach to complete his master’s in electrical engineering before attending medical school due to his many injuries as an athlete. He graduated from the University of Pittsburgh Medical School in 1991 and then did an orthopaedic residency at the University of Vermont, where one of his mentors was Per A.F.H. Renström. After doing a one-year Fellowship in orthopaedic sports medicine at the Cleveland Clinic, he joined Per for another fellowship year in Stockholm at the Karolinska Institute in 1997/98 before starting work in Hershey at the Pennsylvania State College of Medicine.

His research interests include knee and ankle ligament injuries, obesity and arthritis, concussion diagnosis and management and wrestling injuries.

Scott has provided medical coverage for a variety of sports teams from youth and high school athletes, through college and professional teams, with a very diverse population of sports’ teams in both men’s

Per A.F.H. Renström.

and women’s sports, including American football, soccer, field hockey, ice hockey, wrestling, basketball, track and field, lacrosse and many others.

Scott has been married to his wife, Deborah, for more than 35 years, and they have two children. They hosted seven Swedish exchange students, each for a year of high school, due to friendships they made in Sweden. They now consider themselves honorary Swedes. Scott was a volunteer coach for high school wrestling and is an avid cyclist, having done a weeklong stage race in Austria in 2008. He also enjoys snowboarding, playing his guitar (though not as well as he would like) and trying new things, such as the bull ride he did for his fiftieth birthday (see www.youtube. com/watch?v=2FixlKZe988).

Valuable contributors are Physiotherapists and co-authors to the Rehabilitation areas: Anna Frohm RPT, PhD, Anette Heijne RPT, Phd (Deceased 2018), Tommy Eriksson, naprapath, Sweden, Tyson Rose RPT, USA

Illustrators: Lennart Molin, Tommy Berglund, Tommy Bolic-Eriksson, Sweden Photographer: Ole Roos, Sweden (deceased 2021) Support with action pictures: Bildbyrån, Hässleholm, Sweden, Deca Bild, Borås, Sweden, Getty Images, US

scott Lynch.

Acknowledgements

For the fifth edition, we enlisted the help of our American friend Dr. Scott Lynch. You can read more about him in the previous section. As with all writings, good results cannot be obtained without the help of many individuals, so we want to acknowledge their help here. The fourth edition discussed much of this in the Acknowledgement in detail. We will briefly repeat some of this.

Illustrations are of great importance to help the reader understand the written text. Several illustrators have helped with this over the years, and some of the earlier work is still included. In the first edition, Tommy Bolic-Eriksson, Mörkö, Sweden, helped us with his great imagination. In the second and fourth editions, Tommy Berglund, Göteborg, Sweden, was the main illustrator and Lennart Molin, Göteborg, Sweden, in the third. Lennart Molin, Göteborg, supplied the new illustrations for this edition with wonderful diagrams in the healing section. He is a medical illustrator, architect and painting artist. He has an education as an architect from Chalmers University of Technology, Göteborg, Sweden. For about 30 years he has been working with medical and biological book illustrations, with the last 20 years including digital and combined digital and handmade pictures.

We are very grateful to our three artists for their skillful and imaginative contributions that are part of the present book. Ole Roos, Mölndal, Sweden, our friend, has been responsible for the photographic work for all of the previous editions. His professional skills and true support are greatly appreciated. We lost Ole to Covid in 2021. We really miss him.

Tommy Eriksson from the Swedish Athletic Association and the Swedish Olympic Committee has supplied many new photographs and new taping diagrams, as he has also done for past editions. This has helped to make the text much more understandable. Tommy is a licensed naprapath and a popular educator. He has helped us with research on the effects on taping. He has been taking care of many of the Swedish top football/soccer and tennis players, and during the last 40 years he has cared for Swedish elite players in football/soccer as well as for World and Olympic athletic champions such as Daniel Ståhl, Simon Petersson and Armand Duplantis. The athletes love Tommy not only because of his professional skills but also because his overall support.

Lennart Molin.

tommy eriksson.

Bildbyrån, Hässleholm, Sweden, has supported us with many of the action pictures. And in the recent edition also Deca Bild, Borås, Sweden, and Gettys Images, US. We are grateful to Professors Marc Safran, Stanford University, California, USA, and Björn Engström, ArtroClinic, Stockholm, Sweden, and others for helping us with operative and medical imaging pictures. We acknowledge the support by the Swedish Football Association and the Swedish Athletics Association.

Rehabilitation and return to sports after injuries has become increasingly important in the field of sports medicine. We have had great help from some truly amazing physiotherapists, Anna Frohm and Annette Heijne, throughout this and previous editions. They have been coauthors of the rehabilitation chapter. They have taken numerous rehabilitation pictures, which have been invaluable for this book.

In 1992, Anna Frohm started the Rehabilitation Clinic of the Swedish Sports Confederation Centre at Bosön Clinic, Sweden. With Per, she initiated the concept of treating top athletes with an early comprehensive and intensive rehabilitation program over several hours to get them back to sport as quickly as possible. Anna defended her PhD on evaluation methods and rehabilitation techniques for patellar tendinopathy at the Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, in 2006. She has been the head of Sports Medicine at the Swedish Sports Confederation and is a medical board member at Idrettens HelseCenter in Oslo, Norway. Anna continues to work clinically as a physiotherapist with specialties in medical yoga, pranayama and recovery.

Annette Heijne planned most of the rehabilitation programs in the earlier editions together with Anna. In 2007, she defended her PhD thesis on ACL rehabilitation after ACL reconstruction using patellar tendon and hamstring grafts using open and closed kinetic chain exercises. She has been the head of the Division of Physiotherapy, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society at Karolinska Institutet. Unfortunately, we lost Annette to cancer in 2018, and we miss her greatly.

In addition, Tyson Rose, a colleague of Dr. Lynch’s in Hershey, provided invaluable assistance with revising the text and including new rehabilitation techniques, especially in the area of blood flow restriction therapy. Thanks for sharing your great skills with us and the readers.

Concerning the text, we have received some great advice in the past editions from a few worldclass experts for a few sections, including Professor Tommy Hansson, SahlgrenAcademy, Göteborg, Sweden, for Chapter 14 on the spine; Professor Bengt Saltin, Copenhagen, Denmark, for sections on physiology; and Todd Ellenbecker, DPT, MS and vice president of ATP Tour for Chapter 9 on the shoulder. Dale Reese, the physiotherapist for the football/soccer team Helsingborg IF, has been very instrumental in the translation of many chapters in previous editions, as has Erik Nexborn, physiotherapist for Örgryte IS. This book would not have been so successful through the years without the incredible support we have had from our wives, children and grandchildren. Thank you for all your patience and for all the time you have allowed us to work on this book.

Anna Frohm.

Preface

We, the authors of the first four editions of this text, have been much involved in Sports Medicine since the beginning of the 1970s, that is, more than 50 years. We were both physically very active growing up, Lars at elite level and Per at the level just below, and sports have played a huge role in our lives. When we became MDs, we tried to combine our interest in sports with our medical profession. In the beginning, this was a challenge as the discipline of Sports Medicine as such didn’t really exist, despite the fact that even then, injuries were the major problem in sports. The injured athlete had nowhere to look for help. As being active in sport, we were asked by many for advice and to handle all kinds of injury problems. We were also early on asked to give numerous lectures at courses in Sports Medicine around the country at different levels. There was very little written in this area and only very limited parts were evidence-based. Some major sports organizations such as the Swedish Sports Confederation and Swedish Football/Soccer Association asked us to write down our experiences in written form. As a result of this, the first edition of this book was published in Swedish in 1977. The next edition came in 1983 and in English, 1985, published by Dunitz Ltd., London. In a few years, the book was translated into 12 languages and became globally the most widely spread sports injury book. The third edition was published in 2000, the fourth edition came out in 2017, and now it is time for the fifth edition.

We have mostly worked in orthopedics and sports medicine, which include prevention, diagnoses, treatment, rehabilitation and prevention of sports injuries. We discovered early that being continuously active in sports gave us an edge in dealing with sport-related issues. We could understand not only the issues, but also the injured athlete’s language in both the clinic and the locker room. We acquired specific knowledge about the loads on the body endured through sport, the

specific injury mechanisms and so on. We also found sports medicine to be very stimulating and much fun. It is rewarding to be part of a sport’s medical team as they mostly deal with highly motivated and otherwise healthy patients. The interaction is usually quite positive, and the management usually results in a very satisfied patient.

These 50+ years we have been involved in sports medicine have been an exciting and rewarding adventure, as we more or less had to start from scratch. During this period, orthopedics and sports medicine has been characterized by an unbelievable development. Since 1970, a revolution in the field includes the emerging of total joint replacement, minimally invasive procedures with the development of arthroscopic surgical techniques and the modern management of fractures. The value of early motion and evidence-based rehabilitation introduced by sports medicine has had an enormous impact in the healthcare field overall.

For this new edition, we enlisted the help of our American friend Dr. Scott Lynch. Like us, he was a former athlete who understood the interactions with the medical staff from both the patient and physician perspective. His help in interpreting the current data and melding the perspectives from both the European and American sides was invaluable.

This new edition would not be a reality without the skillful advice and help of our co-workers as mentioned under Acknowledgements. We are truly grateful for their generous support. Finally, we would like to thank especially our wives, Lillemor and Lena, and our children and grandchildren, for all their support and great patience allowing us to spend hundreds of hours of work on this book.

We hope this book will be a valuable tool for many people active in sports and physical activity.

Lars Peterson, MD, PhD

Per A.F.H. Renström, MD, PhD

Glossary

note: illustrations of anatomic terms are listed in italic in the index.

abduct: to move a part of the body away from the midline of the body.

adduct: to move a part of the body toward the midline of the body.

avulsion fracture: tearing off of an attachment to a bone.

bursa: a small sac of fibrous tissue, lined with a synovial membrane and filled with synovia.

cartilage: dense connective tissue composed of a matrix produced by specialized cells (chondroblasts).

chondral: describing cartilage.

concentric work: muscle contraction during shortening of the muscle.

crepitation: creaking or crackling sound.

cutting: a sudden sharp turn (e.g. as performed by the knee in running sports).

debridement: excision of devitalized material.

distal: situated away from the origin or point of attachment or the median line in the body.

dorsiflexion: backward flexion of the foot or hand or their digits, i.e. bending toward the upper surface.

eccentric work: muscle contraction during lengthening of the muscle.

epiphysis: the end of a long bone, initially separated by cartilage (growth plate) from the shaft of the bone.

evert: turn outward.

exostosis: bony outgrowth.

hallux: the big toe.

hypertrophy: increase in the size of tissue or an organ brought about by the enlargement of its cells rather than by an increase in their numbers.

hypotrophy: decrease in the size of tissue or an organ brought about by the shrinking of its cells rather than by a decrease in their numbers.

invert: turn inward.

isokinetic training: a form of muscle training performed at a constant speed and against a variable resistance.

isometric training: a form of muscle training performed at a constant position (without a change in the length of the muscle) and variable load.

isotonic training: a form of muscle training performed at variable load.

– itis: inflammation of an organ, tissue, etc.

kinetic chain: multisegmental motion involving one or more joints; closed when the distal segment is stable and the proximal is free; open when the proximal segment is stable and the distal segment is free.

lateral: relating to or situated at the outer side of an organ, tissue or the body.

ligament: a tough band of white fibrous connective tissue that links two bones together.

luxation: complete dislocation of a joint; opposing articular surfaces are no longer in contact.

medial: relating to or situated at the inner side of an organ, tissue or the body.

multiplane exercises: limbs are exercised in a variety of different planes of motion (frontal, sagittal).

osteochondral: describing bone and cartilage.

osteophytes: bony deposits.

periosteum: a layer of dense connective tissue that covers the surface of a bone, except at the articular surfaces.

plantar: relating to the sole of the foot.

pronation: the act of turning the hand or foot so that the palm or sole faces downward.

proprioception: the ability to apprehend positional changes of parts of the body or degrees of muscular activity without the aid of sight.

proximal: situated close to the origin or point of attachment or close to the median line in the body.

rotator cuff: the area of mergence of the tendons of subscapularis, supraspinatus, infraspinatus and teres minor muscles.

subluxation: partial dislocation of a joint; opposing articular surfaces are no longer correctly aligned.

supination: the act of turning the hand or foot inward so that the palm or sole faces as far upward as possible.

synovia: thick colorless lubricating fluid that fills a joint bursa and a tendon sheath, secreted by the synovial membrane.

trabecular: porous (cancellous) bone.

valgus: describing any deformity that displaces a joint toward the midline.

varus: describing any deformity that displaces a joint away from the midline.

Sports medicine/injuries in sports and society 1

Introduction

Physical activity and sports are the foundations for well-being and for protecting health. Sports are furthermore entertaining and lots of fun and generate a wonderful feeling of togetherness and comradery (Figure 1.1). Unfortunately, participating in sporting activity carries certain risks for injury. In England, sports injuries account for about 2% of Accident & Emergency cases recorded.1 In the United States, there were 2.7 million annual Emergency Department visits by athletes aged 5–24 years between 2010 and 2016 with annual healthcare costs estimated to be in the billions of dollars.2

if a top-level athlete is injured, he/she cannot compete or train regardless of how much money the club has invested in the player. Tip

Our knowledge and experience concerning prevention, diagnosis, management, rehabilitation and return to sport after injuries and illnesses need to continuously improve and develop. To secure the highest quality and optimal healthcare, relevant education, research and experience gained in the field of Sports Medicine are of major importance.

The realization of the importance of a well-functioning Sports Medicine services program started to grow rapidly during the 1970s, when physicians, in cooperation with physiotherapists/athletic trainers, actively and successively started to

Figure 1.1 a, b A feeling of togetherness and comradery is valuable in sport and is most often created in team sports. a) with permission by the swedish Football Association; b) with permission, by bildbyrån, sweden.

take care of injured athletes and all others with problems of the musculoskeletal system.

Taking care of sports teams started to be common in Europe and the United States during the

1960s and exploded during the 1970s. Sports Medicine is a broad topic covering several disciplines, including physiology, orthopedics, rehabilitation, internal medicine, infection and to a smaller extent pharmacology, pediatrics, gynecology, psychology, nutrition, etc. Its role within sports itself is complex and is related to exercise and performance physiology, as well as to knowledge of the effects of physical activity and health-promoting lifestyles.

Tip

knowledge and research in sports Medicine should be a natural and well-integrated part of sport as well as in healthcare.

Sport at large has an important role for society as a whole. Sport and physical activity create joy and satisfaction for individuals active in sports (Figure 1.2). It also benefits social togetherness and has an acknowledged educational influence on children and adolescents.

Participation in sports and physical activity on a recreational level is likely to be the most important factor for human health and well-being at all ages. The importance of being active for both young and old is becoming more recognized, especially with the obesity crisis in the young and the desire to help the elderly live a long and productive life. Physical activity can also be used as treatment for many different illnesses.

Physical activity decreases the risk of developing or dying from different cardiovascular diseases. An important example of this is physical activity’s role in partly preventing or slowing the development of high blood pressure. Physical activity can furthermore decrease the risk for diabetes, cancer in the colon, obesity and osteoporosis and can contribute to limiting pain conditions in the musculoskeletal system. Physical activity also has some positive effects on sleep deprivation and minor depression, as well as stress and anxiety.3 Current research shows, however, that people are less active today, which may cause some problems for future health.

Sports competition has its greatest importance during childhood and adolescence, when many exercise and compete in some form of organized sport. The acceptability of the competition component has been up for debate many times but is described by

Figure 1.2 joy is and should be an integral part of all sports. a) joy in a classic national swedish football/soccer team; b) joy among young football/soccer players; c) An olympic medal gives great joy not only to the athlete, but also to the fans. (with permission, by bildbyrån, sweden.)

athletes as an important component for the motivation to train. It is natural to compete in different ways during the growing years, which, in combination with large changes in body and soul during the

same period, may create special, often complex and interesting, Sports Medicine questions.

Top-level sport is very entertaining and is given large media coverage on television, radio, in the press, and in debate in society. Sport creates excitement and often inspires children and adolescents to start a sport while audiences around the world follow and celebrate sport superstars. These athletes have reached the top because of their extensive systematic training. Top-level athletes push themselves to find their maximum, both in competition and training, over a long time, often several years. The goals for both top-level athletes and recreational athletes should be used to determine the level of exercise that works best for each individual. Through studying the effects of different training techniques and “doses,” research on performance aims to analyze the mechanisms behind improving the performance in athletes (Figure 1.3).

top athletes cannot reach the top – “win gold” –without the help of research in sports science studies about optimal performance capacity and training. Tip

If an athlete is injured, he/she cannot train and compete for the team, regardless of how many millions of dollars a club has invested in an athlete. This is a well-known truth that is not well debated. In most sports, injuries are a major problem. In Premier League football in England, for example, at any one time 10% of the players are injured. Everyone with an injury is well aware of how frustrating it can be not to be able to take part. In most active and developed countries, Sports Medicine research has resulted in a major Sports Medicine knowledge base for the management of injured athletes, including information on how to instigate a safe return to sport as soon as possible. Too early return and insufficient rehabilitation after an injury is a common cause for the recurrence of an injury.

Injuries during sport, exercise and physical activity

Participation in physical activity, exercise and sport may cause injury or painful conditions. For the competitive athlete, an injury may result in a

Figure 1.3 a, b, c top-level sport puts great demands not only on physical performance but also on materials and equipment, etc. a) with permission, by tommy eriksson; b, c) with permission, by bildbyrån, sweden.

pause in training and competition. This can further be delayed by waiting times for examination and evaluation with modalities such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and ultrasound, and for decisions on how to manage the injury. This may be an especially important aspect for some young athletes, resulting in their ceasing to participate in sport.

In top-level athletes, the management of injury or illness often requires specialized knowledge as some injuries can be rare and difficult to treat. Furthermore, most athletes, regardless of level, want a speedy and correct diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation in order to get back to sport as quickly as possible.

In many countries these wishes of a quick service can be difficult to accommodate, not least because of priorities in treating other more general diseases and sick patient groups. Top-level athletes, with their strong wish for a quick return to sport after an injury, provide a strong driving force to develop new and effective therapy and rehabilitation techniques. These top-level athletes often generously participate in the testing of new, hopefully more effective, rehabilitation methods, which later can be translated into routine healthcare.

Sports and Exercise Medicine for children and adolescents

Play, physical activity and sport is natural for children. However, it is important to understand how strenuous training can affect children (Figure 1.4). A relevant question is: When a child

One example of speedy rehabilitation and mobilization after surgery that Sports Medicine introduced during the 1970s is arthroscopic surgery, especially of the knee. This technique has been available for more than 45 years and is now well accepted by the general population, and it is considered a giant step forward.

Many injuries can last a long time and require months of rehabilitation before the athlete can return to the same activity level. A very knowledgeable Sports Medicine physician can, with the help of the latest science research and experience, get the athlete back to sport quickly and safely. It is therefore essential that the physician and physiotherapist who treat injured athletes have specific knowledge not only about Sports Medicine but also about the available and current science and the specific sport involved.

e xperience of the health management of top-level athletes will help improve general healthcare.

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Figure 1.4 a–d examples of good sports for children and youngsters. (with permission by bildbyrån, sweden; c) Andrea samuelson.)

starts to specialize in sport, what medical factors should be considered and studied? In most sports, moving from junior to senior sport is a large, if not huge, step. During these years, the risk for long-lasting injuries and the possibility of dropping out of sport both are increased. Therefore, research in Sports Medicine and Sports Science for the young and adolescents needs to be improved and extended.

Sports and Exercise Medicine from a gender perspective

Research during the last few years has shown that women participating in football/soccer, handball, volleyball and basketball have a much higher risk (2.6 times) of injuries to the anterior cruciate ligament compared with men (Figure 1.5). There is intensive ongoing research about the causes and reasons for this. Gender differences in hormonal effects, anatomy, biomechanics and balance have been identified as potential contributing factors, but the problem is far from being solved, and

research continues to find ways to decrease and preferably prevent these injuries. Women participate in sport with increasingly equal opportunities as men, but the risk for injury is not yet equal.

The balance between training and competition

There is evidence that overuse injuries in sports and exercise (and perhaps also acute injuries) are related to insufficient balance between training/ competition and amount of rest. With the advent of devices, such as smart watches, that can easily monitor activity and rest levels, appropriate sleep and recovery times are being more closely linked to performance. The recovery period between competition and training is therefore very important in most sports, especially in top-level sports. In a sport such as tennis, the players play strenuous matches every day, and an ice hockey player in the National Hockey League plays three to four games per week with travelling in between. How can athletes have an optimal recovery after a tough match? It is important not only to recover energy levels but also to recover power and strength to sustainable levels in the tissues, especially the muscles. Optimal recovery will prevent injury and illness and thereby allow for long and injury-free careers, which most likely will generate better results and thus success.

Sports and Exercise Medicine in healthcare

Many sports injuries – such as acute orthopedic trauma cases including non-displaced fractures, dislocations, strains and sprains – are managed expertly by general healthcare providers and are treated routinely at most hospitals and clinics. However, in developed countries, sub-specialization is becoming commonplace so that a physician or orthopedic surgeon will become an expert in one particular area, for example, hand, foot and ankle, or shoulder and elbow problems. When sport injuries are unusual or are of an overuse type, the diagnosis can be difficult to establish. Knowledge and experience of overuse injuries concerning diagnostics, treatment, rehabilitation, return to sport and prevention may be limited in general healthcare systems. This may result in the

Figure 1.5 a, b young players, especially girls, have an increased risk during adolescence for serious knee injuries such as of the anterior cruciate ligament. (with permission, by bildbyrån, sweden.)

injured athlete being passed between different practitioners, which may be very frustrating for the athlete and may also cause unnecessary costs for society. This is where the Sports Medicine physician provides valuable expertise.

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it is important that the latest scientific experience and evidence-based medicine are used in sports Medicine and are of benefit for all athletes.

Sports Medicine has specific knowledge about injuries and illnesses that may cause problems for athletes. Every sport, from recreational sports to top-level sports, including in different age groups, will generate its own specific problems. Sports and Exercise Medicine can be regarded as the athlete’s “work-based healthcare.” Financial support for Sports Science and Sports Medicine is, however, very limited. If, for example, 1%–2% of public financing of top-level sport was ear-marked for Sports Medicine service and research, such support would secure high-quality knowledge about risk for injury, prevention and performance, etc. However, such issues are not discussed openly by sports associations or society at large. It is our belief that the connections between Sports Medicine and sport at large should be much tighter and more open.

Why support Sports and Exercise Medicine?

● Everyone should be active with regular physical activity appropriate to their own ability, but should be aware that the risk for injury exists.

● The experiences from Sports and Exercise Medicine services will benefit everybody.

● Many injuries can be prevented.

Sports and Exercise Medicine background and history

History

The ancient Olympic Games starting in 776 bc in Olympia in Greece were initially a one-day event, but in 684 bc, they were extended to three days,

and in the fifth century bc to five days. These Games included running, long jump, shot put, javelin, boxing, wrestling and equestrian as the most important events, and they soon included pentathlon with the discus throw. The Olympic Games were organized every four years (the Olympiad) between 776 bc and ad 394 (Figure 1.6). These Games were considered great events and were looked upon as symbols for peace. The Olympic Games were forbidden in ad 394 by the Roman Emperor Theodosius as an attempt to suppress Pagan religions. They were reinstated in 1896 when the modern Olympic Games era was initiated. The first modern games, held over a couple of weeks as we know them today, was the Olympic Games in Stockholm in 1912. The Olympic Games today generate great public interest and have stimulated many individuals to become more physically active.

The first use of therapeutic exercises to treat illness and injury is credited around 500 bc to Herodicus, who recommended strict diet, constant physical activity and regular training to maintain good health. He also introduced the use of massage. Herodicus is considered by many to be the “Father of Sports Medicine.” He was the teacher of Hippocrates (469–399 bc), who is considered to be the “Father of Medicine.” Hippocrates postulated that an athlete’s injury should not be regarded as an effect of the disgrace of the Gods but was instead related to athletic activity. Galen (129–199 bc) was a prominent surgeon during the second century bc, and his works on

Figure 1.6 the olympic arena in olympia in greece, where the ancient olympic games were held, starting in 776 bc and continuing until ad 394, when they were forbidden for religious reasons. the picture shows the shot put final on the 192 m long running track during the Athens olympic games in 2004.

anatomy and of the relation of the body and mind were highly regarded for many years. He was also a team physician for the gladiators and was called upon when there was an injury.

It was not until the Winter Olympic Games in St. Moritz in 1928 that Sports Medicine formally was formed. At this meeting, a decision to form the Federation Internationale Medicine de Sport (FIMS) (International Sports Medicine Organization) was made, and the term Sports Medicine was coined.

The First International Congress of Sports Medicine was then held at the Summer Olympic Games in Amsterdam in 1928. FIMS is still active. In 1954, the American Chapter of FIMS was founded, and its name was changed the year after to the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM). After a deadly doping case during the Rome Olympic Games in 1960, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) formed a Medical Commission in 1962, and it has been increasingly active since then.

During the 1970s and later, a number of sports-related international medical societies were formed, most notably the International Society of Arthroscopy in 1974 and International Society of the Knee (ISK) in 1978, Knee surgery and Orthopedic Sports Medicine (ISAKOS), which was founded in 1995 as a merger of the International Society of the Knee (ISK) and the International Arthroscopy Association (IAA). ISAKOS is today the leading international orthopedic Sports Medicine organization with very active and related continental and regional partners.

National Sports Medicine organizations started to be formed during the 1920s in countries such as France, Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Germany and Poland. In 1953, the British Association of Sport and Medicine (BASM), now known as the British Association of Sport and Exercise Medicine (BASEM), was formed. ACSM remains the largest national Sports Medicine and Exercise science organization in the world with more than 45,000 members. The American Orthopedic Society for Sports Medicine (AOSSM), founded in 1972, is an organization of orthopedic surgeons and other allied health professionals dedicated to Sports Medicine. Essentially every professional and collegiate team in the United States has a team physician, who is a member of AOSSM. The Canadian Academy of Sport and Exercise Medicine (CASEM) was founded in 1971 and

is an organization of physicians committed to excellence in the practice of medicine as it applies to all aspects of physical activity.

During the early 2000s, there was a strong move in many countries toward encouraging people to become more physically active and also to use physical activity as a treatment method. To reflect this paradigm shift, the specialty itself in some countries has rebranded from Sports Medicine to Sports and Exercise Medicine, including the national Sports Medicine societies in countries such as Great Britain, Australia and Canada. In Sweden, the name has changed to Physical Activity and Sports Medicine.

It should also be mentioned that the Medical Commissions of the International Sports Federations in sports such as football/soccer, ice hockey, handball, basketball, athletics, etc. have lately become increasingly active in prevention of sports injuries as their financial situation has improved and as sports injuries constitute a growing problem.

Components of Sports Medicine and Sports and Exercise Medicine

Sports Medicine has long been a specialty that focuses on prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of injuries and illnesses related to sport and physical activity. Sports and Exercise Medicine is focused on all medical problems that can occur during sport and physical activity as well as on the benefits generated by physical activity and exercise. Since the late twentieth century, Sports and Exercise Medicine has gained increasing interest and is now regarded as an integral part of healthcare. Sports include in general a strong competitive component, and, therefore, the management of injury and illnesses is expected to be optimal and the recovery to full activity, at the same activity level, to be speedy and successful.

There are aspects of Sports and Exercise Medicine present in most medical disciplines; Sports and Exercise Medicine is multifactorial or a cross-over specialty in a wider sense. This can mean that many persons with different knowledge are involved in treating one athlete with one injury or illness. Besides a physician, a physiotherapist/athletic

trainer, a nurse and sometimes complementary medicine practitioners (e.g. osteopathy, naprapathy and chiropractic) may be part of the Sports Medicine team.

In the first half of the 1900s, general physicians dominated Sports Medicine, but since the 1970s, orthopedists have gradually become more dominant, although other aspects have also developed. Today many non-orthopedists are very active in Sports and Exercise Medicine, including physiologists, family practitioners, cardiologists, etc. Other important related areas include internal medicine, pediatrics and gynecology as well as other sports scientific areas, for example, biomechanics, technology, sociology, psychology, history, education, nutrition and other paramedical specialties.

Sports Medicine involves athletes at all levels, not only top-level athletes. This is very evident from the experiences of all the mass running events available today with tens of thousands of participants. In the media, the Sports Medicine physician is portrayed as the physician who takes care of only the top-level athletes, but this is not the case. The majority of the problems a professional athlete is subjected to are also common among recreational athletes, who constitute the overwhelming majority of people visiting the physician’s office. The top-level athletes are few, and they are often taken care of by a few medical super-specialists.

Sports injuries

Athletes may sustain injuries in the same way the general population can get injured in daily life. Sports injuries can be divided into two types: the acute traumatic injuries and so-called overuse injuries. Traumatic injuries can happen to anyone, for instance through vehicle accidents, at work, or in similar situations. One main difference is that sports injuries are sustained by individuals with good muscle strength, often during motion, with much power and high motion energy involved. This may result in more extensive and severe injuries in athletes compared with non-athletes (Figure 1.7). On the other hand, the athletes are mostly young, healthy individuals with good healing capacity, which means that an injury is likely to heal well and normal function restored in the injured body part.

Figure 1.7 Acute and early management of an injury or illness is important. a) e arly care after a long-distance running race; b, c) experienced medical personnel are available for speedy management onsite. a, b) with permission, by bildbyrån, sweden; c) with permission, by getty images.

Athletes not only want to be fully recovered from their injury to enable them to return to work – they also demand and expect to be healthy and recovered from the injury so they can return to sport and function at the same level as before the injury.

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CHAPITRE XV

Gaspard invite un évêque à bénir les fiançailles de Thérèse et de Bernard.

Arrivé à la porte de la salle où l’évêque était enfermé, Gaspard congédia Sanplan d’un signe, et discrètement frappa.

— Entrez, dit le prélat.

La salle était vaste. Sur les quatre murs régnaient des corps de bibliothèque à moitié rongés par le feu. Sur les tablettes, çà et là, se voyaient encore ceux des ouvrages qu’on avait jugés trop maltraités pour être enlevés. Cimetière de livres, où des tas de cendres, que le vent avait poussés dans les recoins, avaient été des feuillets pleins de pensées… Un lustre de Venise, dont plusieurs branches étaient brisées, pendait du plafond, au centre de la pièce ; et les boiseries des fenêtres aux vitres déchiquetées encadraient un paysage de printemps fleuri, calme sous un ciel pur ; et, au-dessus de la large porte d’entrée, un grand Christ sur une croix, étendant ses bras noircis par le feu, donnait à la vaste salle un air de prétoire.

La voix calme du prélat avait dit : « Entrez ».

Gaspard ouvrit, et s’arrêta sur le seuil, plus gêné, au fond, qu’il n’avait été quelques instants auparavant, en présence de Thérèse.

Assis dans un fauteuil endommagé, son bréviaire sur les genoux, le prélat examinait curieusement le bandit ; et, sincère, il ne put s’empêcher d’admirer sa bonne mine. Il sentait que cet homme

embarrassé avait, à l’ordinaire, plus d’aisance, mais non pas plus de grâce. A ces signes, il ne put douter qu’il avait sous les yeux le célèbre Gaspard de Besse. Il souriait à lui voir cet air d’embarras ; et, la main sur sa croix pastorale :

— Ainsi, vous arrêtez votre évêque — ou plutôt vous avez cru arrêter votre évêque ? car je ne le suis pas ; mais je me rendais chez lui en visiteur, monsieur

— Votre Grandeur m’excusera, dit Gaspard ; mes gens ont agi sans en avoir reçu l’ordre.

— En ce cas, je suis libre ? dit l’évêque un peu trop vivement.

— Hélas ! Monseigneur, pas encore ; et je vous en demande pardon.

— Et, qu’est-ce qui s’y oppose ?

— Hélas ! Monseigneur, pardonnez-moi ; l’obstacle serait dans ma volonté si vous repoussiez une demande que je viens vous présenter.

Le prélat releva la tête dans un mouvement de fierté outragée :

— Monsieur, dit-il, vous n’espérez pas que j’entrerai en composition avec un brigand ?

— Monseigneur, dit Gaspard souriant, je sais pourquoi, en l’an 1357 ou 58 de J.-C., le pape Innocent IV fit construire, autour d’Avignon, des murailles à créneaux qui sont aujourd’hui encore l’orgueil de cette cité ; vous ne pouvez l’ignorer : ce fut pour la défendre contre de simples brigands. Ces brigands, qui couraient le royaume, avaient juré qu’ils auraient de l’argent des Cardinaux[11] ou qu’ils leur « en feraient voir de dures », si bien que le pape dut en venir, bien malgré lui, et malgré ses remparts, à composer avec le chef de ces brigands, un certain Arnaud de Servole, dont je me réclame comme d’un ancêtre assez illustre. Innocent IV, sans se déshonorer, lui donna quarante mille écus… Je ne vous imposerai point pareille taxe, n’étant point un aussi vaillant capitaine qu’Arnaud ; et vous n’aurez point, Monseigneur, à faire un aussi

grand sacrifice que ce pape… Je ne vous demande pas un trésor matériel, mais seulement une grâce…

[11] Froissard

L’évêque se radoucit. Ce singulier bandit voulait peut-être se confesser ?… lui demander l’absolution !…

— Une grâce ?… Et… qui est de mon ministère, monsieur ?

— Assurément, Monseigneur ; je n’en saurais exiger d’autre.

— Exiger ? Oh !… Et de quoi s’agit-il ?

— J’ai ici un frère d’adoption, fiancé à la plus honnête des jeunes filles… J’ose vous demander de bénir leurs accordailles.

— Monsieur Gaspard, dit l’évêque avec un grand calme, j’ai lu Voltaire, j’ai lu Rousseau, et j’ai souri. Je ne suis donc pas, vous le voyez, un prêtre sans indulgence à l’erreur ; mais tout a sa limite, et je suis un bon chrétien, qui sait ce qu’il doit à sa dignité. Nous parlerons, si vous le voulez bien, de ma rançon.

— Vous refuseriez, à ces deux enfants qui l’implorent, votre bénédiction ?

Avec la plus nette énergie, le prêtre répondit :

— Oui, si elle m’est demandée par vous, l’homme du crime.

Gaspard se redressa :

— Et mon crime, selon vous, Monseigneur, quel est-il ?

— Rebelle aux lois.

Ainsi frappé, l’ami secret de Mme de Lizerolles retrouva toute son assurance. L’écolier de Lizerolles avait appris à mieux formuler des pensées naguère imprécises en lui. Il avait extrait de plus d’un livre et retenu des expressions, des formules complètes. Et, de ces livres, il avait pénétré tout le sens. Il mesurait toute l’importance de cette entrevue avec un personnage tel que l’évêque. Il avait toujours espéré qu’une occasion se présenterait de se révéler dans ses hauts projets à quelque puissant, capable de lui rendre témoignage. C’est pourquoi il répondit avec une certaine solennité :

— Malheur aux temps, Monseigneur, où les revendications des peuples ne peuvent se faire entendre que par la bouche des révoltés ! Malheur aux régnants qui sont sourds aux justes plaintes des peuples ! Si j’avais connu, pour faire entendre le gémissement des malheureux qui demandent justice, un autre appel qu’un cri de guerre, je l’aurais jeté ; mais sans doute le temps est loin encore dans l’avenir, où les peuples seront les ouvriers de leurs lois, et n’auront qu’à leur obéir avec fierté, puisqu’elles seront leurs propres commandements de justice ; temps heureux où ils auront en main le moyen d’approfondir les lois, pour les améliorer. C’est l’entêtement et la dureté de cœur des puissants qui crée la révolte des peuples. L’homme qui vous parle n’est point parmi les responsables, puisqu’il est parmi les victimes ! Compression et déni de justice amènent révolte fatale… Le Christ est venu au secours des petits, qu’oppriment les grands. La torture, inscrite dans les lois, est contraire aux commandements du Christ…

— Oh ! Oh ! dit le prélat impressionné.

Il se leva, comme pour on ne sait quel involontaire hommage, mouvement qu’il regretta aussitôt.

Et, feignant de s’être levé pour arranger un pli de sa robe, il se rassit en s’occupant de ce soin, et tout en disant :

— Je ne puis vous céler, monsieur, que je trouve à vos paroles quelque chose de touchant. Elles semblent indiquer que vous seriez mieux à votre place ailleurs que sur une grand’route. Ainsi donc, vous vous plaignez du siècle ? Eh ! monsieur, vous n’êtes pas le seul, ni à vous plaindre, ni… pardonnez-moi l’expression qui est trop juste… à mériter la corde… Les mauvais exemples, je l’avoue, viennent souvent de haut. Le siècle n’est pas très sage.

Il releva la tête :

— … Et si vous aimez, comme on dit, le populaire…, ce n’est pas à nous que cela peut déplaire, monsieur, car nous sommes au Christ… qui naquit charpentier.

— Vous m’excuseriez donc ?

— Peut-être… un jour… si vous changiez… de profession !

— Monseigneur, dit Gaspard, puisque vous n’êtes pas l’évêque d’Aix, vous ne pouvez être, je le devine à votre langage, que l’évêque de Castries, pour lequel nos populations ont un pieux respect, et mérité.

— Je suis, en effet, celui que vous dites.

— Ne craignez donc rien de nous. Nous savons, Monseigneur, que vous êtes resté bienfaisant, au faîte des honneurs, et que vous savez étendre sur les pauvres une main digne de l’anneau pastoral…

Et regardant la main du prélat, appuyée et pendante sur le bras du fauteuil :

— Une main de race ! ajouta Gaspard avec finesse. Elle ne voudra pas refuser à deux enfants la bénédiction que je persiste à lui demander.

— Monsieur, dit l’évêque, la violence, même sous le masque de l’urbanité parfaite, n’obtiendra rien de votre captif. Obéir à la menace me serait une honte ineffaçable. Je ne relève que de Dieu… Ah ! çà, quelle idée vous faites-vous donc du prêtre ?

— La plus noble du monde, Monseigneur, surtout sachant à qui je parle ; mais s’il y a de bons prêtres, j’en ai vu de mauvais ; il en est des prêtres comme des magistrats ; et l’apostolat, comme la magistrature, obtiendrait partout un respect comparable à celui que vous inspirez, Monseigneur, si l’un et l’autre avaient moins de défaillances, et publiques. Nous ne voulons, avec vous, que justice et bienveillance. Et si je suis un réprouvé, c’est qu’il y a, selon moi, deux Églises : l’une qui s’éloigne du Christ, l’autre qui le cherche… Ma mémoire a enregistré naguère, et pour toujours, certaine phrase d’une bulle publiée, en 1318, par Jean XXII, qui fut pape chez nous, en Avignon, après avoir été évêque chez nous, à Fréjus. Sa bulle déclarait ceci : « Il y a deux Églises, une charnelle, accablée de richesses, perdue de délices, souillée de crimes ; l’autre spirituelle et libre dans sa pauvreté. » Je suis, Monseigneur, le fidèle de celle-ci, — l’Église du cœur, celle de François d’Assise.

Un trait de lumière douce traversa l’âme du bon évêque. Ses paupières battaient ; elles se fermèrent un instant ; il porta la main sur ses yeux ; on ne sait s’il n’essuya pas une larme ; il n’oubliait point cependant qu’il avait devant lui — l’adversaire :

— La date de 1318 ne prouve rien contre l’Église éternelle, monsieur ; mais vous êtes un homme singulier et un plus singulier bandit… Je ne désespère pas de vous voir finir en ermite, ajouta-t-il en souriant… Suis-je libre enfin ?

Gaspard crut comprendre que le vaillant prélat ferait, s’il était libre, ce qu’il refusait à la menace.

— Oui, Monseigneur. Et sans doute me rendrez-vous témoignage quelque jour

— Je déplore, monsieur, qu’on puisse trouver de si bons sentiments chez un bandit.

— Il serait plus logique et plus juste de vous en réjouir, Monseigneur… Au rebours peut-être de ce que vous pensez, je dis que le bandit a peut-être plus de mérite, en tous cas plus de difficulté que le saint, à garder de bons sentiments.

— Monsieur Gaspard, dit l’évêque avec beaucoup de simplicité, puisque me voici libre et que vous n’exigez plus rien de moi, je vous prie de faire amener ici les deux enfants dont vous m’avez parlé.

Vous avez raison : même aux égarés, surtout aux égarés, Christ accorde sa bénédiction. Il a pardonné, sur la croix, au bon larron. En son nom, et n’obéissant qu’à Lui, je bénirai… pour que cette bénédiction devienne votre rachat.

Gaspard avait donné des ordres à Sanplan. Bernard et Thérèse, près de la porte, attendaient, anxieux.

Ils entrèrent, muets d’étonnement, et se jetèrent aux pieds de l’évêque.

Alors Gaspard, avec noblesse :

— Je jure, Monseigneur, de n’employer désormais le zèle de ce jeune homme à aucune œuvre que puisse me reprocher votre conscience.

Les deux fiancés s’inclinaient ; et le prêtre fit sur eux le geste auguste de la bénédiction.

CHAPITRE XVI

La mémorable entrevue de l’évêque de Castries et du faux moine dom Pablo.

Les fiancés s’étaient retirés.

— Monseigneur, dit Gaspard, votre carrosse sera, dans quelques minutes, avancé devant le perron. Je viendrai vous en prévenir.

L’évêque n’entendit pas. Debout devant une des fenêtres grand’ouvertes, il s’était pris à regarder le vaste ciel, comme s’il y cherchait une réponse divine aux questions humaines qui se pressaient en lui. Ne pouvait-il rien de plus pour les égarés au milieu desquels il se trouvait et qu’il ne rencontrerait plus jamais ? N’avait-il pas encore une parole à prononcer ? Laquelle ? Dans l’espoir d’un grand bien, ces gens-là vivaient dans le mal. Ce Gaspard était un chef redoutable. N’y avait-il aucun moyen de le déterminer à abandonner une existence coupable ? Ne pourrait-on le faire entrer au service du roi ? Par quel détour ? « Avant de quitter Vaulabelle, ne devrais-je pas du moins tenter, moi, apôtre, de ramener à une politique moins chimérique, un bandit doué de bon sens et capable d’enthousiasme ? »

Gaspard, respectant la méditation du prêtre, se taisait, immobile derrière lui, songeant : « M’a-t-il compris ? Qui sait ? Il portera peutêtre jusqu’au pied du trône l’explication de nos révoltes ; et peut-être obtiendra-t-il, en même temps que notre grâce, justice pour nous

contre le Parlement. Que Teisseire soit vengé, ses assassins punis, — quel triomphe suffisant !… »

Les regards de l’évêque, errant sur l’horizon, au fond des grands espaces muets, revinrent sur la terre ; et il tressaillit. Il venait d’apercevoir, dans la grande allée, devant le château, un religieux, en robe de bure, qui faisait mine de lire un bréviaire. C’était Pablo.

Depuis qu’il s’était confessé à Gaspard, et depuis qu’il avait édifié les bandits, Pablo, en apparence toujours le même, était bien changé aux yeux de Gaspard qui, lorsqu’ils étaient seuls tous deux, le traitait de tout autre façon qu’autrefois.

Parmi les volumes dépareillés, dans la bibliothèque ruinée de Vaulabelle, il restait assez de bons livres pour que Pablo se fût amusé à les classer, à les relire, à en entretenir Gaspard. Le passé studieux du faux ermite le ressaisissait. Il retrouvait une intime fierté à s’apercevoir que sa mémoire, enfouie dans l’inconscience, y parlait encore tout bas, le remettait en présence des indignations très nobles qui pourtant l’avaient poussé, par impuissance, à se laisser déchoir… Une régénération intérieure, que rien ne révélait à personne, sinon à Gaspard, était commencée en lui. Bien des fois, Gaspard lui avait exprimé le désir qu’il avait d’être mis en présence d’un prince de la terre, qu’il ferait juge de ses sentiments et qui pourrait porter aux maîtres du peuple, aux ministres, au Roi peutêtre, le vœu populaire qu’il prétendait, lui, Gaspard, représenter

Et Pablo venait de se dire tout à coup que l’évêque de Castries, vénéré de tous, en Provence, pourrait être ce médiateur. Il s’était mis en quête de Gaspard et, ne le trouvant pas, il s’était informé ; et il était venu rôder sous les fenêtres de la salle où il le savait en conciliabule avec le prélat.

Il pensait qu’il pourrait, avec l’aide de Gaspard, faire entendre à ce noble personnage la vérité déjà comprise du peuple.

L’évêque, ayant aperçu Pablo, se tourna vers Gaspard :

— On dit, Monsieur, que vous avez attaché à votre troupe, une sorte d’aumônier ? Ne serait-ce point cet ermite que je vois passer là-bas ?… Avec votre agrément, je voudrais lui parler…

Gaspard s’approcha de la fenêtre vers laquelle Pablo leva les yeux. D’un signe, Gaspard l’appela.

Les bras en croix sur sa poitrine, debout dans sa robe de religieux, déchirée par endroits et assez malpropre, Pablo regardait le prélat d’un air narquois à la fois et déférent.

— Comment se fait-il, dit l’évêque, qu’il y ait parmi ces égarés un homme vêtu de cette robe ?

Pablo avait cherché cette entrevue ; et voilà qu’en présence de l’évêque, il se sentit intérieurement décontenancé et tout à fait incapable, parce qu’indigne, de formuler la requête qu’il avait méditée. Alors, irrité contre le respect même qui s’imposait à lui, il répondit, avec une rageuse irrévérence :

— Monseigneur, je suis l’aumônier du régiment.

L’évêque regardait fixement ce moine lamentable et audacieux.

Pablo se roidit dans son rôle de bravade. Gaspard regretta de l’avoir appelé sans lui avoir, au préalable, ordonné de prendre une attitude révérencieuse. Il eût voulu lui faire un signe d’intelligence ; mais Pablo, le devinant, ne le regardait pas et continuait :

— Au nom de nos braves, je distribue à des pauvres les biens mortels et nécessaires, le pain et le vin, sous les espèces d’écus bien trébuchants. Et quand je n’en ai plus, j’attends que nos voleurs s’en procurent encore. Ma bonne volonté est grande. Cela suffit. Dieu ne demande pas davantage. Il ne juge que l’intention.

— Cette jonglerie doit cesser ; vos réponses sont une parodie maligne des doctrines saintes, et un manque de respect pour mon caractère sacré ; vous copiez un hérésiarque qui a mérité le feu éternel. Vous renoncerez à cette parodie !

— Monseigneur a raison, dit fermement Gaspard ; obéissez-lui.

— J’ai pu causer avec votre chef, poursuivit l’évêque ; j’ai vu dans son cœur quelque chose de pur et d’honnête… mais vous, qui êtesvous ?

Le démon d’orgueil s’était emparé de Pablo. Il répondit, avec un mauvais sourire :

— Je suis un honorable coquin.

— Fûtes-vous prêtre ? malheureux !

— J’ai étudié pour le devenir.

— Comment êtes-vous tombé à ce degré d’abjection ?

Pablo tressaillit, sous l’injure méritée ; il répliqua, moqueur :

— Rien n’arrive que par la volonté de Dieu.

— Encore ! ces paroles dans votre bouche sont d’abominables blasphèmes !

— Excusez-le, Monseigneur, dit Gaspard ; cet homme a souffert, et beaucoup.

Le prélat réfléchit un instant, en silence ; puis :

— Je voudrais trouver le chemin de votre cœur. Je vous adjure, si quelque chose d’honnête demeure en vous, et il ne saurait en être autrement, de me parler en homme, en chrétien. Pourquoi répondriez-vous à l’amour par la haine ? Un homme qui a étudié pour atteindre au sacerdoce doit avoir bien souffert, en effet, pour être devenu ce que vous êtes.

La voix du prélat s’était faite insinuante, douce comme une main de femme qui toucherait une plaie. La parole de pitié pénétra le cœur de Pablo, dont la figure narquoise changea tout à coup. Elle devint douloureuse :

— C’est ma confession que vous demandez, Monseigneur ? dit-il lentement. De grâce ne frappez pas à une porte que j’ai pu entr’ouvrir une fois, mais que je n’ai jamais ouverte toute grande à personne. N’y frappez pas… par pitié pour vous. Le secret de mon âme est trop affreux.

— Parlez, mon fils.

Ce mot acheva de fondre la dureté de cœur du faux ermite. Son visage s’illumina.

A son tour, il parut réfléchir profondément. Après tout, pourquoi ne répondrait-il pas à l’appel évangélique ? Dans un entraînement presque involontaire, il avait bravé un prince de l’Église ; maintenant le prélat lui parlait le langage de la bienveillance chrétienne. Pourquoi ne déchargerait-il pas son âme du fardeau qui l’oppressait ? de toute la colère accumulée en lui depuis tant d’années ? Au lieu de s’entêter dans la raillerie coutumière qui le faisait mépriser, pourquoi ne dirait-il pas, à ce représentant de l’Église reniée, les raisons de son reniement ? Et, au lieu de lui laisser le souvenir d’un bouffon injurieux, pourquoi n’élèverait-il pas sérieusement en sa présence la protestation qui inspira les réformateurs ? A cette idée, son passé de croyant revint en lui, et l’anima. N’avait-il pas naguère, à Solliès, parlé dans une église, du haut d’une chaire, avec une émotion intime qu’il avait pu dissimuler à tous les yeux, mais qu’il n’avait pu se nier à lui-même ? Et voilà qu’aujourd’hui, dans cette salle en ruine où, sur les murailles nues, on ne voyait rien qu’un crucifix, il retrouvait, grâce à la présence de l’évêque, quelque chose de la pieuse atmosphère qu’il avait respirée enfant, quelque chose aussi de la solennité de ces églises où il avait jadis ambitieusement rêvé d’être un orateur écouté… Il y rencontrait un auditeur capable de comprendre ce qu’il y avait en lui d’éloquence inutilisée… Toutes ces réflexions bourdonnaient pêlemêle sous son crâne ; et peu à peu il s’attendrissait sur lui-même, sur sa chute, sur ses souvenirs d’enfant et de lévite innocent :

— Puisque vous avez su rendre justice aux sentiments de notre chef, Monseigneur, et puisque vous ne me jugez pas indigne de toute pitié, je parlerai…

Il se recueillit et commença d’un ton très doux :

— Avec la foule innombrable des chrétiens, avec ceux qui travaillent pour gagner le pain quotidien, avec les laboureurs et les artisans, avec tous les humbles, avec tous les pauvres, j’ai, tout petit, tourné les yeux vers la crèche, et j’ai aimé Dieu-enfant de toute mon âme.

Déjà Pablo oubliait l’évêque. Le son de sa propre voix lui paraissait celui d’une voix étrangère qui le subjuguait lui-même. Les

crèches provençales que, étant petit, au jour de Noël, il avait construites sous les yeux et avec les conseils de sa mère, il les revit avec émotion, seulement parce qu’il venait d’entendre ce mot : « Amour », si souvent profané par les lèvres humaines et auquel la pitié avait rendu tout son sens divin. Et Pablo, comme en un songe, retrouva dans sa mémoire un vieux chant latin ; et il murmura, en extase, comme un moine des siècles lointains :

« Stabat mater speciosa, Juxta fænum graciosa, Dum jacebat parvulus… »

L’évêque, confondu, crut assister à un miracle, à une transfiguration, lorsque Pablo reprit d’une voix douce de mère en deuil et visionnaire :

— « Marie, Dame de courtoisie, que ressentais-tu, quand le Dieu ton fils suçait ton lait ? Comment ne mourais-tu pas de joie en l’embrassant ?… » Je grandissais, Monseigneur, dans ces extases ; et, avec tout le petit peuple, j’attendais la réalisation des promesses évangéliques… Et ce qui m’arriva à ce moment-là, je n’en ai jamais fait confidence à personne (il regarda Gaspard), à personne.

« C’est à ce moment-là que je reçus, par la malignité monstrueuse d’un prêtre, la révélation du démoniaque. Ce prêtre m’instruisait, et il avait tous les dehors d’un clerc respectable. Il savait que ma mère, en mourant, deux ans après la mort de mon père, m’avait laissé la garde d’une petite sœur moins âgée que moi de six années. Quand j’approchai de mes vingt ans, elle n’était encore qu’une enfant ; et tout ce que la paternité a de plus secourable, de plus protecteur, je l’éprouvais pour elle. Le prêtre indigne me pria de lui confier son éducation religieuse… Il put passer avec elle de longues heures dans la solitude ; et il abusa de son ignorance. Il ne fut pas puni. On me déclara qu’il fallait « étouffer le scandale » !

— On eut tort, dit l’évêque sévèrement. Proclamation du scandale et punition des coupables, c’est le moyen unique d’inspirer

la foi dans l’équité et d’assurer le respect de notre ordre comme celui de toute justice.

Pablo poursuivit :

— Elle mourut dans l’épouvante ; et en moi, alors, brusquement, s’engouffrèrent la rage, l’incrédulité et la haine… Je me détournai avec horreur de la cléricature ; et, avec des yeux tout nouveaux, jetant mes regards sur le monde, je n’y vis plus qu’abomination,… un océan d’iniquités débordantes.

L’évêque leva les yeux vers le crucifix :

— C’est à ce moment, dit-il, que le démon, profitant du mal accompli par un infâme, troubla la netteté de votre intelligence. Il ne fallait pas conclure à l’infamie de tous d’après celle d’un seul. Mon fils, le prêtre est un homme, guetté par les passions. L’héroïsme de l’entier renoncement n’est pas facile à tous. Les saints ne sont pas innombrables. Mais il ne faut jamais oublier que, même lorsque, à l’autel, elle est élevée par des mains indignes, l’hostie reste toute blanche.

Pablo n’écoutait plus. Ses rages l’avaient ressaisi ; il jeta un regard haineux sur le prêtre qui le blâmait ; et, s’exaltant dans une sorte de fureur sacrée, il rappela, en apôtre accusateur, les périodes les plus douloureuses dans l’histoire des peuples trahis par de mauvais bergers.

Ses récentes lectures lui fournirent, contre l’iniquité du monde, les éléments précis d’une diatribe qui, de parole en parole, s’enflait du souffle de sa colère passionnée ; ainsi la vague appelle la vague sous le fouet de l’orage. Sa voix grondait ; son esprit fulminait. Un Savonarole n’eût pas désavoué cette éloquence inattendue et vraiment formidable… Voici qu’il s’écriait : « N’invoquez pas l’ignorance des siècles lointains ; — les maîtres d’alors avaient, aussi bien que nous et plus près d’eux, le Christ tout entier, c’est-àdire toute la vraie science des cœurs… et ils la foulaient aux pieds ! » Il dit, et, pour conclure, rassembla, comme en un faisceau, de grandes invectives qui s’achevèrent en malédictions…

Tout à coup il s’arrêta, vraiment épuisé par tant de violence ; et, sa voix retombant à de calmes notes plaintives qui inspiraient la pitié, il murmura, comme l’apôtre lorsqu’il trouva vide le Tombeau : « J’avais un Dieu… voici que je ne l’ai plus… qu’en avez-vous fait ?… où l’avez-vous mis ? »

Le visage du moine n’exprimait plus que de la tristesse. Il se tut. Après avoir respecté un moment son douloureux silence, l’évêque lui dit avec bonté :

— Mon fils, la force de vos indignations et de vos regrets, est terrible. Vos repentirs ne pourraient-ils l’égaler ? Vous demandez la justice aux hommes ? Peut-être n’est-elle pas de la terre !… Vous avez fait de votre beau désir la pire des damnations. Que cela vous soit compté ! Mais, croyez-moi, quittez votre genre de vie, fuyez les cavernes ; combattez en vous la rage stérile ; rappelez-vous vos prières d’enfant… Vous les murmuriez tout à l’heure…

Il

ajouta :

— N’avez-vous jamais vu de bons prêtres, animés par le pur esprit de sacrifice et d’amour ? Ils sont légion, ces consolateurs de toutes douleurs, physiques et morales. N’avez-vous jamais vu nos bons curés de campagne quitter leur repos, en pleine nuit, pour porter à un mourant, ou à sa famille désespérée, les paroles de son cœur ? Ne les avez-vous pas vus partager, avec des mendiants, le dernier et pauvre pain du presbytère ? leur donner des chaussures neuves lorsqu’eux-mêmes marchent avec des souliers qui prennent l’eau ? Pourquoi ne regardez-vous que du côté où règne le mal ? Si le bien ne faisait pas équilibre au mal, songez que le monde s’écroulerait. L’essence de la vie est amour. La poule assemble autour d’elle ses petits qui se réfugient sous son aile, selon l’image évangélique ; et elle les nourrit de ses privations.

— Cela est vrai, intervint Gaspard ; et mon curé ne m’a laissé que de bons souvenirs.

— Sans aller bien loin, reprit l’évêque, si vos yeux cherchaient la vraie lumière, vous trouveriez dans le clergé, de véritables saints, dont les vertus rachètent tous les péchés d’Israël. Il y a, dans un

pauvre village de nos Alpes voisines, un curé qui, depuis vingt ans, sème et récolte le bon grain de l’Évangile. Vous ne pouvez ignorer son nom…

— Je sais, dit Gaspard, il s’appelle Miollis[12] . Il donne aux pauvres jusqu’à ses propres vêtements. Il dut emprunter, il y a huit jours à peine, un pain pour son souper, au forgeron son voisin. Je l’ai su, Monseigneur, et je lui ai fait parvenir, sans qu’il ait pu en soupçonner l’origine, deux sacs de blanche farine et quelques pots de miel, que m’avaient offerts des amis, de braves cultivateurs de Besse.

[12] Né en 1745, nommé évêque de Digne par Napoléon Ier , Monseigneur Miollis mourut à l’âge de 99 ans et 7 mois C’est l’évêque des Misérables

L’évêque regardait et écoutait Gaspard avec une stupeur bien naturelle. Troublé jusqu’au fond de l’âme, il sentit sa pensée s’embrouiller un peu. Il était « du siècle, du monde », et voilà qu’il rencontrait, en Gaspard, un monde inattendu : la douceur dans la révolte ! — Il s’efforçait de diriger ses réflexions ; de conclure. N’y pouvant parvenir, il y renonça pour l’heure ; et, se tournant vers Pablo :

— Allez, lui dit-il, rentrez en vous-même, et redevenez le chrétien que vous fûtes adolescent ; changez d’existence. Notre miséricorde chrétienne est infinie. Elle sait pardonner les fautes d’autrui ; et elle efface même nos propres fautes, par le repentir.

— Rien n’effacera les miennes à mes yeux, répondit Pablo avec une surprenante noblesse. Je n’ai plus qu’une destinée… je n’y faillirai pas ; et c’est de suivre Gaspard mon maître partout et quoi qu’il fasse, et jusque sur l’échafaud. Ma fidélité à cet homme sera mon seul rachat.

— Ne voulez-vous pas réciter, à genoux, les prières de la confession ? insista le prêtre ; vous y trouveriez le repos.

— Elles ne seraient qu’un blasphème sur mes lèvres, répliqua Pablo froidement. Vous voudrez bien m’excuser, Monseigneur ; et si

Votre Grandeur, comme je n’en saurais douter, peut avoir quelque influence sur le cours du siècle, qu’elle aille, dans sa bonté, exposer à notre roi l’origine et la signification de nos révoltes ; il n’y faut voir que l’appel des désespérés vers la justice toujours promise…

Ayant dit, il s’inclina et sortit.

— Monsieur, dit le prélat à Gaspard, je tâcherai de voir le roi…

Gaspard à son tour s’inclina devant l’évêque avec respect ; et comme, au moment de quitter la salle, il se retournait pour le saluer une fois encore, il le vit s’agenouiller dans l’épaisse poussière du parquet, aux pieds du haut crucifix, et s’abîmer dans une prière infinie.

Le soir de ce même jour, Gaspard, cherchant Pablo dans tous les recoins du parc, devait le trouver ivre-mort, comme un veuf désespéré qui cherche l’oubli. Dans un sommeil agité, le malheureux murmurait encore : « Qu’avez-vous fait de mon Dieu ? Qu’avez-vous fait de mon Dieu ?… Où l’avez-vous mis ? »

CHAPITRE XVII

Le diable se sert subtilement d’un innocent évêque pour encourager un amour profane ; et Gaspard, avec la femme qu’il aime, contemple les pierres, encore vivantes, sur lesquelles s’élevait autrefois l’Arc de Triomphe de Marius

L’évêque priait toujours, douloureusement, lorsque son propre serviteur vint prévenir que ses chevaux étaient mis. Il se hâta de le suivre et de monter dans son carrosse ; mais, au milieu du rondpoint, le cocher dut arrêter.

Le prélat, cherchant à se rendre compte de l’obstacle, vit, à quelque distance, une troupe nombreuse de paysans, hommes et femmes, qui entouraient Gaspard d’un air joyeux.

Gaspard les quitta, dès qu’il aperçut l’évêque ; et, chapeau bas, lui vint expliquer que ces bonnes gens apportaient au camp, de temps à autre, des tributs volontaires, en nature, des légumes, des volailles, des fruits.

— Regardez là-bas, Monseigneur ; ces corbeilles fleuries ! Eh bien, sous les fleurs, j’ai parfois trouvé plus d’un lourd sac d’écus. Soyez assez bon pour ne pas oublier que tout n’est pas, ici, le produit d’actes illégitimes.

Les paysannes semblaient se consulter… Gaspard leur fit un signe. Elles s’approchèrent, et offrirent respectueusement au prélat une gerbe de fleurs.

Bernard et Thérèse, accourus, s’agenouillèrent les premiers devant la portière du carrosse. Les paysans les imitèrent.

Bouleversé, le prélat avait pris les fleurs. Le carrosse, sur un ordre de Gaspard, se remit en marche, tandis que l’évêque faisait un dernier geste de bénédiction.

Où allait-il, au sortir du parc enchanté ? Gaspard ne s’en doutait pas. Il allait, en visiteur ami, chez Mme de Lizerolles. L’évêque ignorait, de son côté, que la haute dame connût le bandit. Il arriva chez elle à l’heure du souper.

— Ah ! madame ! quelle aventure ! dit-il.

Et il conta son arrestation et ce qui s’en était suivi ; et, enfin et surtout, la conversation qu’il avait eue avec Gaspard. Son récit achevé, le prélat resta un moment silencieux, puis tout à coup :

— Lorsque cet homme, le bandit Gaspard, car il faut l’appeler par son nom, prononça avec simplicité ces paroles : « Je suis fidèle à l’église du cœur », je ne puis dire, madame, quelle brusque et douce émotion m’a inondé l’âme tout à coup. Les larmes gonflèrent mon cœur. Qu’un homme, qui vit délibérément hors la loi, puisse avoir de tels sentiments et de telles expressions, cela me confond, m’étonne, me trouble étrangement. Ah ! monsieur de Marseille a raison, lorsqu’il assure qu’il y a, en ce Gaspard, plus et mieux qu’un bandit. Cet homme-là est plus dangereux qu’on ne pense, non point parce qu’il vit, à la vue de tous, en état de crime, ce qui est repoussant, mais parce qu’il a des vertus intérieures qui le font aimer malgré son crime.

En fin de compte, le prélat parla de Gaspard à Mme de Lizerolles avec tant d’éloges, si touchants, si assurés et si profonds, qu’en les écoutant elle se sentait portée, pour le bel et jeune aventurier, d’une inclination plus tendre que n’aurait voulu l’évêque, s’il avait pu lire dans ce cœur de femme. Le diable, pour amener à ses fins le couple éternel, se sert parfois des sentiments qu’on a pour Dieu. Il n’est pas rare que l’amour passionné de la vertu conduise la créature au péché.

Gaspard, depuis sa première visite à la bibliothèque de Lizerolles, y était revenu plusieurs fois ; et, chaque fois, il était resté deux ou trois jours au château, pour obéir à l’invitation de la châtelaine. Dans la solitude où elle s’était confinée, ces visites romanesques lui étaient une singulière distraction. La troupe de Gaspard, tout à fait disciplinée depuis sa retraite dans les caveaux de Solliès, ne lui demandait plus compte de ses absences ; elle pensait qu’il préparait des plans d’attaque contre le Parlement ; et, en effet, s’il s’instruisait, s’il s’attachait à la lecture des livres d’histoire et de droit, c’était en vue de pouvoir attaquer le Parlement par la critique et la parole, en même temps que par l’action. La bande devinait aussi que l’amour était pour quelque chose dans les absences de son chef, et s’en égayait, en lui attribuant plus d’aventures galantes qu’il n’en eut jamais : et c’est ainsi que s’enflent les légendes.

Ces journées à Lizerolles étaient charmantes. Gaspard arrivait le matin ; et, tout directement, était introduit dans le cabinet d’étude qui était devenu sa chambre personnelle, près de la bibliothèque. Il trouvait tout préparé un habit convenable à la vie sédentaire, un autre pour ses sorties. Il se mettait à ses lectures, d’où le tirait seulement la cloche annonçant l’heure des repas. Et c’était, alors, à table, de longues et nobles causeries avec la comtesse.

Sa spirituelle amie, sans pédantisme, l’interrogeait finement sur mille objets ; et, vers la fin de la journée, après une lecture faite en commun, tous deux montaient à cheval pour une promenade dans les environs, de préférence vers des lieux où Gaspard savait qu’il ne rencontrerait aucun de ses gens.

Au cours de la première promenade qu’ils firent ainsi, après la visite qu’elle avait reçue de l’évêque :

— Savez-vous, dit-elle tout à coup, — en se rapprochant botte à botte, si bien que les têtes des chevaux, mis au pas, se touchèrent — savez-vous que vous avez conquis le cœur de mon vénérable ami, l’évêque de Castries ?