"Down into the darkness!" he said. "Down through long vistas of shadow and blackness you go, glad and exultant, delighting in evil, and thinking 'God sees me not!' And then suddenly at the end, a sword of fire cuts the darkness asunder,—and the majesty of the Divine Law breaks your soul on the wheel!"
He looked steadfastly at Varillo.
"So you will find,—so you must find, if you ever go down into the darkness."
"Ay, if I ever go," said Florian gently. "But I shall not."
"No?—then perhaps you are there already?" said Ambrosio smiling, and playing with his rosary. "For those who say they will never sin have generally sinned!"
Varillo held the same kind look of compassion in his eyes. He was fond of telling his fellow-artists that he had a "plastic" face,—and this quality served him well just now. He might have been a hero and martyr, from the peaceful and patient expression of his features, and he so impressed by his manner a lay-brother who presently entered to give him his evening meal, that he succeeded in getting rid of Ambrosio altogether.
"You are sure you are strong enough to be left without an attendant?" asked the lay-brother solicitously, quite captivated by the gentleness of his patient. "There is a special evening service to-night in the chapel, and Ambrosio should be there to play the organ—for he plays well—but this duty had been given to Fra Filippo—"
"Nay, but let Ambrosio fulfil his usual task," said Varillo considerately. "I am much better—much stronger,—and as my good friend Monsignor Gherardi desires me to be in Rome to-morrow, and to stay with him till I am quite restored to health, I must try to rest as quietly as I can till my hour of departure."
"You must be a great man to have Domenico Gherardi for a friend!" said the lay-brother wistfully.
Here Ambrosio suddenly burst into a loud laugh.