"
"To give her up?"
"She was not mine to give up."
"But do you mean not to try to--Oh, Phil, doesn't it ever come to you
that all this monkish business is a mistake? We were a couple of
foolish boys that didn't know what we were about when we went into it;
and"--
Ashe turned and looked at him with eyes full of reproach, and of almost
despairing determination.
"Is that the way you help me?" he asked.
Maurice drew a long, deep breath, and set his strong jaw with a resolve
not to abandon so easily the endeavor to bring his friend out of his
trouble. It hardly occurred to him for the moment that it was his own
cause that he was defending.
"Phil," he persisted, "isn't it possible that after all we may be wrong
in making ourselves wiser than the church by taking vows that are not
required?"
"Do you suppose that the devil has forgotten to say that to me over and
over again?" was the response.
"Meaning that I am the old gentleman?" Maurice retorted, trying to be
lightsome.
"Oh, don't joke. I can't stand it. I've been through so much, and this
is so terrible a thing to bear anyway."
Wynne seized his rosary with one hand, and struck it across the other
so hard that the corner of the crucifix wounded his finger.
Pages:
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353