"
"I thought," said the Abbe, speaking somewhat unsteadily, "that you
might when you heard all, hurl some of Rome's thunderous
denunciations upon me . . ."
"What am I, and what is Rome, compared with the Master's own word?"
said the Cardinal gently. "If our brothers sin against us seventy
times seven we are still to forgive, and they are still our
brothers! Denunciations, judgments and condemnations of one another
are not any part of our Lord's commands."
Vergniaud rose up and held out his hand.
"Will you take it," he said, "as a pledge that I will faithfully do
whatever you may see fitting and right to retrieve the past?--and to
clear my son's soul from the thirst of vengeance which is consuming
it?"
Cardinal Bonpre clasped the extended hand warmly.
"There is your answer!" he said, with a smile which irradiated his
fine countenance with an almost supernatural beauty and tenderness,
"You have sinned against Heaven, and you have sinned against the
Church and your own calling,--but the greatest sinner can do no more
than repent and strive to make amends. For I see you fully know and
comprehend the extent of your sin."
"Yes, I know it," and Vergniaud's eyes were clouded and his brows
knitted, "I know it only too well! Greater than any fault of Church-
discipline is a wrong to human life,--and I wronged and betrayed an
innocent woman who loved me! Her soul was as sweet as the honey-cup
of a flower,--I poisoned it.
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