I wronged a
woman--this boy's mother--" and he indicated with a slight gesture
Cyrillon, who had remained a silent witness of the scene,--"and the
boy himself from early years set his mind and his will to avenge his
mother's dishonour. I--the chief actor in the drama,--am thus
responsible for a woman's misery and shame; and am equally
responsible for the murderous spirit which has animated one, who
without this feeling, would have been a promising fellow enough. The
woman I wronged, alas!--is dead, and I cannot reinstate her name,
save in an open acknowledgment of her child, my son. I do
acknowledge him,--I acknowledge him in your presence, and therefore
virtually in the presence of His Holiness. I thus help to remove the
stigma I myself set on his name. Plainly speaking, Monsignor, we men
have no right whatever to launch human beings into the world with
the 'bar sinister' branded upon them. We have no right, if we follow
Christ, to do anything that may injure or cause trouble to any other
creature. We have no right to be hasty in our judgment, even of
sin."
"Sin is sin,--and demands punishment--" interrupted Moretti.
"You quote the law of Moses, Monsignor! I speak with the premise
'if'. IF we follow Christ;--if we do not, the matter is of course
different.
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