Page:The Saint (1906, G. P. Putnam's Sons).djvu/123

Rh Benedetto whispered to him:

"It is not what you think."

Having controlled his feelings, he begged the master to sit down upon a ruined wall, against which he himself—kneeling on the grass—rested his folded arms.

"Since this morning," said he, "I have been warned by certain signs that the Lord's will concerning me is changed; but I have not been able to understand in what way. You know what happened to me three years ago in that little church where I was praying, while my poor wife lay dying?"

"You allude to your vision?"

"No; before the vision—having closed my eyes—I read on my eyelids the words of Martha:  'Magister adest et vocal te!'  This morning, while you were saying Mass, I saw the same words within me. I believed this to be an automatic revulsion of memory. After the communion I had a moment of anxiety, for it seemed to me Christ was saying in my soul: 'Dost thou not understand, dost thou not understand, dost thou not understand?' I passed the day in a state of continual agitation, although I strove to tire myself more than usual in the garden. In the afternoon I sat reading a short time under the ilex tree, where the Fathers congregate. I had St. Augustine's De Opero Monachorum. Some people passed on the upper road, talking in loud voices. I raised my head mechanically. Then, I cannot tell why, but