even though thou do it without thought of Him, it shall
be well done: it is this sacrifice that He asketh of thee, and His
flame is upon it for a sign. Think not of Him; but of His love and
thy love. For God is no morbid exactor: he hath no hand to bow
beneath, nor a foot, that thou shouldst kiss it."

And Chiaro held silence, and wept into her hair which covered his
face; and the salt tears that he shed ran through her hair upon his
lips; and he tasted the bitterness of shame.

Then the fair woman, that was his soul, spoke again to him, saying:

"And for this thy last purpose, and for those unprofitable truths of
thy teaching,--thine heart hath already put them away, and it needs
not that I lay my bidding upon thee. How is it that thou, a man,
wouldst say coldly to the mind what God hath said to the heart
warmly? Thy will was honest and wholesome; but look well lest this
also be folly,--to say, 'I, in doing this, do strengthen God among
men.' When at any time hath he cried unto thee, saying, 'My son, lend
me thy shoulder, for I fall?' Deemest thou that the men who enter
God's temple in malice, to the provoking of blood, and neither for
his love nor for his wrath will abate their purpose,--shall
afterwards stand with thee in the porch, midway between Him and
themselves, to give ear unto thy thin voice, which merely the fall of
their visors can drown, and to see thy hands, stretched feebly,
tremble among their swords? Give thou to God no more than he asketh
of thee; but to man also, that which is man's. In all that thou
doest, work from thine own heart, simply; for his heart is as thine,
when thine is wise and humble; and he shall have understanding of
thee. One drop of rain is as another, and the sun's prism in all: and
shalt not thou be as he, whose lives are the breath of One? Only by
making thyself his equal can he learn to hold communion with thee,
and at last own thee above him. Not till thou lean over the water
shalt thou see thine image therein: stand erect, and it shall slope
from thy feet and be lost. Know that there is but this means whereby
thou may'st serve God with man:--Set thine hand and thy soul to serve
man with God."

And when she that spoke had said these words within Chiaro's spirit,
she left his side quietly, and stood up as he had first seen her;
with her fingers laid together, and her eyes steadfast, and with the
breadth of her long dress covering her feet on the floor. And,
speaking again, s