She saw him look at it steadily.
“You remember,” she said, at the bottom of the avenue of cypresses—“at El-Largani—Factus obediens usque ad mortem Crucis?”
“Yes, Domini.”
“We can be obedient too. Let us be obedient too.”
When she said that, and looked at him, Androvsky felt as if he were on his knees before her, as he was upon his knees in the garden when he could not go away. But he felt, too, that then, though he had loved her, he had not known how to love her, how to love anyone. She had taught him now. The lesson sank into his heart like a sword and like balm. It was as if he were slain and healed by the same stroke.
That night, as Domini lay in the lonely room in the hotel, with the French windows open to the verandah, she heard the church clock chime the hour and the distant sound of the African hautboy in the street of the dancers, she heard again the two voices. The hautboy was barbarous and provocative, but she thought that it was no more shrill with a persistent triumph. Presently the church bell chimed again.
Was it the bell of the church of Beni-Mora, or the bell of the chapel of El-Largani? Or was it not rather the voice of the great religion to which she belonged, to which Androvsky was returning?
When it ceased she whispered to herself, “Factus obediens usque ad mortem Crucis.” And with these words upon her lips towards dawn she fell asleep. They had dined upstairs in the little room that had formerly been Domini’s salon, and had not seen Father Roubier, who always came to the hotel to take his evening meal. In the morning, after they had breakfasted, Androvsky said:
“Domini, I will go. I will go now.”
He got up and stood by her, looking down at her. In his face there was a sort of sternness, a set expression.