t.

_Louis_--I have repented. Let that suffice.

_Francis_ [_rising_]--That avails nothing.

_Louis_--Have I not confessed my sins?

_Francis_--They are not condoned while you persist in them.

_Louis_--The Church has indulgences which a king can pay for.

_Francis_--God's pardon is not to be bought: we must deserve it.

_Louis_ [_in despair_]--I claim it by right of my anguish! O Father, if
you knew my sufferings, you would shed tears of pity! The intolerable
bodily pain I endure constitutes but half my troubles and my least
suffering, I desire the places where I cannot be. Everywhere remorse
pursues me; I avoid the living; I live among the dead. I spend dreadful
days and nights more terrible. The darkness assumes visible shapes;
silence disturbs me, and when I pray to my Savior I hear his voice say:
"What would you with me, accursed?" When asleep, a demon sits on my
chest: I drive him away, and a naked sword stabs me furiously; I rise
aghast; human blood inundates my couch, and my hand, seized by a hand
cold as death, is plunged in that blood and feels hideous moving
debris....

_Francis_--Ah, wretched man!

_Louis_--You shudder. Such are my days and nights; my sleep, my life.
Yet, dying, I agonize to live, and fear to drink the last drop of that
bitter cup.

_Francis_--Come then. Forgive the wrongs others have done you, and thus
abate your own tortures. A deed of mercy will buy you rest, and when you
awake, some voice at least will bless your name. Come. Do not tarry.

_Louis_--Wait! Wait!

_Francis_--Will the Lord wait?

_Louis_--To-morrow!

_Francis_--But to-morrow, to-night, now, perhaps, death awaits you.

_Louis_--I am well protected.

_Francis_--The unloved are ill protected. [_Tries to drag the King
along._] Come! Come!

_Louis_ [_pushing him aside_]--Give me time, time to make up my mind.

_Francis_--I leave you, murderer. I cannot forgive your crimes.

_Louis_ [_terrified_]--What! do you condemn me?

_Francis_--God may forgive all! When he still hesitates, how could I
condemn? Take advantage of the delay he grants you; weep, pray, obtain
from his mercy the softening of your heart towards those unfortunates.
Forgive, and let the light of day shine for them once more. When you
seized the attribute of Divine vengeance they denounced your name from
the depth of their jails in their bitter anguish, and their shrieks and
moans drowned your prayers. Now end those sufferings, and God shall h