The stranger went, Narda scarcely knew how; and without him the room, life itself, seemed empty and vain again.
The subject is not new—the incompatibility of the Christ and modern civilization. We are all acquainted with sensational pictures, painted by well-known artists, depicting Christ in the midst of decadent modern society, with all its revolting contrasts; or with lurid sketches written by clever journalists; but never have we seen the subject treated with so much reverence and psychological insight as in the work before us. Read the scene the following night at the "Lapin Cru," where Narda was sure he would meet again with the Son of God. They communed as of old the disciples with the Master.
"I thought, Lord, you were to come in a different manner."
"Are you also without intelligence?" Jesus replied. "Visible or invisible the Son of Man comes every day."
The question rose to the lips of Narda: "You come, doubtless, to finish the work begun two thousand years ago?"
"It is finished to all eternity."
"Why then have you not conquered?"
"Because I wished to leave to you the merit of the victory."
After some further talk, Narda, who has been led into the depths of his own conscience, depths unsuspected by him before, exclaims: "Lord, perhaps you are only myself, my self raised to perfectness...."
"But has not one of your writers said: 'It is only God who is really man.' How do you know, if I have not become little by little divine?"