“Yes.”
Don Clemente drew his disciple’s head towards him, and said, his lips almost touching Benedetto’s forehead:
“I asked the Abbot to allow me to give you the habit of a lay-brother, that on leaving here you might, at least, carry with you the sign of a humble religious office. The Abbot wished to speak with you before deciding.”
Here Don Clemente kissed his disciple on the forehead, thus intimating what the Abbot’s decision had been after their meeting; and into the kiss he put silent words of praise which his fatherly character and the humility of his disciple would not permit him to utter.
He did not notice that the disciple was trembling from head to foot.
“Here is what the Abbot wrote after talking with you,” said he.
He showed Benedetto the sheet of paper, upon which the Abbot had written:
“I consent. Send him away at once, that I may not be tempted to detain him!”
Benedetto embraced his master impulsively, and rested his forehead against his shoulder without speaking. Don Clemente murmured: “Are you glad? Now it is I who ask you!”
He repeated his question twice without obtaining an answer. At last he heard a whisper: