“Also he told me they of the convent had better means to tend thee than I had. And that was true enow. So I just bargained to be let in to see thee once a day, and here thou art.”
And the miscreant cast a strange look of affection and interest upon Gerard.
Gerard did not respond to it. He felt as if a snake were in the room. He closed his eyes.
“Ah, thou wouldst sleep,” said the miscreant eagerly. “I go.” And he retired on tip-toe with a promise to come every day.
Gerard lay with his eyes closed: not asleep, but deeply pondering.
Saved from death, by an assassin
Was not this the finger of Heaven?
Of that Heaven he had insulted, cursed, and defied.
He shuddered at his blasphemies. He tried to pray.
He found he could utter prayers. But he could not pray.