ose blameless hearts which forgive everything! I
am a novice, groping my way into a new and vast world, a limitless,
generous, forgiving commune, where love alone dominates.... And if I
had lived among my brothers long enough to be purged of those
traditions which I have drawn from generations, I might now be noble
enough and wise enough to say I do forgive and forget that you--"

"That you were once a thief," I ended, with the genial officiousness
of the hopelessly fat-minded.

In the stillness I heard Buckhurst draw in his breath--once. Some day
he would try to kill me for that; in the mean time my crass stupidity
was no longer a question in his mind. I had hurt the Countess, too,
with what she must have believed a fool's needless brutality. But it
had to be so if I played at Jaques Bonhomme.

So I put the finishing whine to it--"Our Lord died between two
thieves"--and relapsed into virtuous contemplation of my finger-tips.

"Madame," said Buckhurst, in a low voice, "your contempt of me is
part of my penalty. I must endure it. I shall not complain. But I
shall try to live a life that will at least show you my deep
sincerity."

"I do not doubt it," said the Countess, earnestly. "Don't think that
I mean to turn away from you or to push you away. There is nothing of
the Pharisee in me. I would gladly trust you with what I have. I will
consult you and advise with you, Mr. Buckhurst--"

"And ... despise me."

The unhappy Countess looked at me. It goes hard with a woman when her
guide and mentor falls.

"If you return to Paradise, in Morbihan,... as we had planned, may I
go," he asked, humbly, "only as an obscure worker in the cause? I
beg, madame, that you will not cast me off."

So he wanted to go to Morbihan--to the village of Paradise? Why?

The Countess said: "I welcome all who care for the cause. You will
never hear an unkind word from me if you desire to resume the work in
Paradise. Dr. Delmont will be there; Monsieur Tavernier also, I hope;
and they are older and wiser than I, and they have reached that lofty
serenity which is far above my troubled mind. Ask them what you have
asked of me; they are equipped to answer you."

It was time for another discord from me, so I said: "Madame, you have
seen a thousand men lay down their lives for France. Has it not shaken
your allegiance to that ghost of patriotism which you call the
'Internationale'?"

Here was food for thought, or rather fodder for asses--the