"
"But only for a little while," answered the boy, "The evil soul must
leave its impress on the face in time, if life lasts long enough."
"That is quite possible," said Bonpre, "In fact, I think it often
happens,--only there are some people who simulate the outward show
of goodness and purity perfectly, while inwardly 'they are as
ravening wolves,' and they never seem to drop the mask. Others
again--" Here he paused and looked anxiously at his young companion,
"I wonder what you will be like when you grow up, Manuel!"
"But if I never grow up, what then?" asked Manuel with a smile.
"Never grow up? You mean--"
"I mean if I die," said Manuel, "or pass through what is called
dying before I grow up?"
"God forbid!" said the Cardinal gently, "I would have you live--"
"But why," persisted Manuel, "since death is a better life?"
Bonpre looked at him wistfully.
"But if you grow up and are good and great, you may be wanted in the
world," he said.
An expression of deep pain swept like a shadow across the boy's fair
open brow.
"Oh no!" he said quietly, "the world does not want me! And yet I
love the world--not because it is a world, for there are millions
upon millions of worlds,--they are as numerous as flowers in a
garden--but because it is a sorrowful world,--a mistaken world,--and
because all the creatures in it have something of God in them.
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