“Peace, my daughter!” he said softly. “You are in the presence of Holy Church, and in the presence perhaps of death.”
She whirled upon him, her wrinkled old face, if possible, contorted more furiously than before.
“Holy Church!” she raved. “Holy Church! Ha, ha! What have I to do with Holy Church that kicked me from its doors! Will Holy Church give me back my son? And what have you to do with this, you smooth-faced hypocrite! It is the law I want, not you to stand there and mumble while you smugly paw your crucifix!”
It came quick and sharp—an angry sibilant murmur from the crowd, a threatening forward movement. Mechanically, Raymond's fingers fell away from the crucifix. It was the crucifix, dangling from his neck, that he had unconsciously grasped as he had snatched away his hand from the priest's body—and it was the crucifix that, equally unconscious of it, he had been grasping ever since. Strange that in his agitation he should have grasped at a crucifix! Strange that the act and his unconscious poise, as he held the crucifix, should have lent verisimilitude to the part he played, the rôle in which he sought sanctuary from death!
His hand raised again. The murmuring ceased; the threatening stir was instantly checked. And then Raymond took the old woman by the shoulders, and with kindly force placed her in the arms of the two nearest men.
“She does not know what she is saying,” he said gently. “The poor woman is distraught. Take her home. I do not understand, but she speaks of her son being given back to her, and——”
“It is a murder, mon père,” broke in one of the men excitedly. “She came running to the village a few minutes ago to tell us that her son had been killed. It is this man here in the road who did it. She recognises him, you see. There is the wound in his head, and she said she struck him there with a piece of wood while he was struggling with her son.”
The old woman was in hysteria now, alternately sobbing and laughing, but no longer struggling.
“Murdered! Her son—murdered!” Raymond gasped in a startled way. “Ah, then, be very good to her! It is no wonder that she is beside herself.”
They led her laughing and crying away.