wicked! In any case she is not very long dead, there-
fore how can Mireio have been seen by Jesus? And
I do not believe that our Lord healed a mule, he
healed only human beings with souls —blind men
He healed, and women, and lepers — the people
He wished to have with Him in heaven. You are
lying, or else you will soon become mad. No, you
have not seen our Lord but the devil.9 He paused
for a moment to recover his breath, then he went on
more quickly, spluttering a little: 'Listen to me well,
I will now repeat what is said at the end of Revelation:
"If any man shall add unto these things, God shall
add unto him the plagues that are written in this
book:" Yes, those are the actual words of Saint John,
and that is what you have done, added to these
things, and therefore you are a very great liar!5
Christophe said quietly: 'I have spoken the truth.
I have told you what I was meant to tell you.5
They faced each other and Christophers calm eyes
met and held the turbulent eyes of his cousin. And
now they were not young boys any more —at this
moment they were neither young nor old, but just
two living creatures irrevocably bound by the bonds
of an infinite love that was ageless.
Jan muttered: 'You are wicked because you blas-
pheme, yet I do not wish to kill you like the others.
. . .* Then all of a sudden he burst into tears, and
when next he spoke his words were quite childish:
'Oh, oh,3 he blubbered, 'what am I going to do? You
will go down to hell and then I shall lose you!5
Christophe looked at him, not knowing what he
should say, or how he migjit best hope to give con-
solation.
They walked home hand in hand as they been used
to walk when they were very small children. They for-
got that they had both grown since those days, re-
membering only that they had quarrelled yet again
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