"And how will it be arranged?"
"As is the custom amongst men of honour," answered Clement, firmly.
"Do you know how Christians are accustomed to arrange quarrels?"
"I do know, but cannot do it. If he had insulted me, I could have forgiven him, and spared him his punishment; but he has slandered one who is dearer to me than myself."
"A woman, Clement?"
"Yes, a woman!"
"And you love this woman?"
"I love her!" said the young man, in a low voice.
"I thought that it was thus." cried the old man. "The town has destroyed you. You have become one of the children of this world, following after strange women, and swaggering for them, and making of them the false idols of your folly! But I tell you that, so long as I live, I will labour to bring you back to the Lord, and will shatter your idols! Has God wrought a miracle in you that you should deny him? Aye, it were better that you sate still in darkness, and that the door had for ever remained shut through which the spirit of lies has crept into your heart!"
The young man restrained himself with difficulty. "Who has given you the right, father," he cried at last, "who has given you the right of accusing me of ignoble inclinations? Because I must do what must be done in this world to restrain the insolence of the base, am I therefore base? There are different ways of fighting against the spirit of evil. Yours is the way of peace, because you have to deal with men in the aggregate. I stand opposed to a single man, and know what I have to do."