Jerome. [Putting his hands on his shoulders.] You must awake from this. You must remember where you are. You are under rules. You must not break the rules you are under. The brothers will be coming in to hear you, you must not speak to them. The Superior has forbidden it.
Paul Ruttledge. [Touching Jerome's hand.] I have always been a great trouble to you.
Jerome. You must go and submit to the Superior. Go and make your submission now, for my sake. Think of what I have done for your sake. Remember how I brought you in, and answered for you when you came here. I did not tell about that wild business. I have done penance for that deceit.
Paul Ruttledge. Yes, you have always been good to me, but do not ask me this. I have had other orders.
Jerome. Last time you preached the whole monastery was upset. The Friars began to laugh suddenly in the middle of the night.
Paul Ruttledge. If I have been given certain truths to tell, I must tell them at once before they slip away from me.
Jerome. I cannot understand your ideas; you tell them impossible things. Things that are against the order of nature.
Paul Ruttledge. I have learned that one needs a religion so wholly supernatural, that is so opposed to the order of nature that the world can never capture it.
[Some Friars come in. They carry green branches in their hands.
Paul Ruttledge. They are coming. Will you stay and listen?