hed Odo's hand in his burning grasp. "Is it possible that there are
human beings so heedless of their doom that they can go about their
earthly pleasures with this awful problem unsolved? Oh, why has not some
Pope decided it? Why has God left this hideous uncertainty hanging over
us? You know the doctrine of Plotinus--'he who has access to God leaves
the virtues behind him as the images of the gods are left in the outer
temple.' Many of the fathers believed that the Neoplatonists were
permitted to foreshadow in their teachings the revelation of Christ; but
on these occult points much doubt remains, and though certain of the
great theologians have inclined to this interpretation, there are others
who hold that it leans to the heresy of Quietism."

Odo, who had inferred in the Duke's opening words an allusion to the
little prince's ill-health, or to some political anxiety, was at a loss
how to reply to this strange appeal; but after a moment he said, "I have
heard that your Highness's director is a man of great learning and
discrimination. Can he not help your Highness to some decision on this
point?"

The Duke glanced at him suspiciously. "Father Ignazio," said he, "is in
fact well-versed in theology; but there are certain doctrines
inaccessible to all but a few who have received the direct illumination
of heaven, and on this point I cannot feel that his judgment is final."
He wiped the dampness from his sallow forehead and pressed the scapular
to his lips. "May you never know," he cried, "the agony of a father
whose child is dying, of a sovereign who longs to labour for the welfare
of his people, but who is racked by the thought that in giving his mind
to temporal duties and domestic affections while such spiritual
difficulties are still unsolved, he may be preparing for himself an
eternity of torture such as that--" and he pointed to an old and
blackened picture of the Last Judgment that hung on the opposite wall.

Odo tried to frame a soothing rejoinder; but the Duke passionately
interrupted him. "Alas, cousin, no rest is possible for one who has
attained the rapture of the Beatific Vision, yet who trembles lest the
mere mechanical indulgence of the senses may still subject him to the
common penalty of sin! As a man who has devoted himself to the study of
theology is privileged to argue on questions forbidden to the vulgar, so
surely fasting, maceration and ecstasy must liberate the body from the
bondage of prescrib