Through a high window on the left, the light
fell upon the Mother of Sorrows--the _Dolorosa_; Benedetto was in the
shadow.
His voice murmured in a scarcely audible tone:
"Still without faith?"
Softly, as he himself had spoken, and without turning her head, she
answered:
"Yes."
He was silent for a time, then he continued, in the same tone:
"Do you long for it? Could you regulate your actions as if you believed
in God?"
"Yes, if I be not forced to lie."
"Will you promise to live for the poor and the afflicted, as if each one
of these were a part of the soul that you love?"
Jeanne did not answer. She was too far-seeing, too honest to declare
that she could.
"Will you promise this," Benedetto continued, "if I promise to call you
to my side at a certain hour in the future?"
She did not know of what solemn and not far distant hour he was
thinking, as he spoke thus. She answered, quivering:
"Yes, yes!" "In that hour I will call you," said the voice out of the
shadow, "But until I call you, you must never seek to see me again.
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