“No, no. There is truth in that.”
But the priest assented rather sadly.
“Mahomet thought too much of the body,” he added.
Domini saw the Count compress his lips. Then he turned to Androvsky and said:
“Do you think so, Monsieur?”
It was a definite, a resolute attempt to draw his guest into the conversation. Androvsky could not ignore it. He looked up reluctantly from his plate. His eyes met Domini’s, but immediately travelled away from them.
“I doubt——” he said.
He paused, laid his hands on the table, clasping its edge, and continued firmly, even with a sort of hard violence:
“I doubt if most good men, or men who want to be good, think enough about the body, consider it enough. I have thought that. I think it still.”
As he finished he stared at the priest, almost menacingly. Then, as if moved by an after-thought, he added: