Very slowly Jouse found the boy's hand, and raising
it to his lips he kissed it.

§3

Later on that morning Marie said to Christopher
'You two were alone; tell me just what happened/

'It was Anfos . . .'he faltered uncertainly; CI did
not want him to be sent away, for he needs us so
much . . .' And then he told her.

She listened to him in absolute silence, but when
at last he had finished speaking she said: 'That was
not your father, my child — your father is kind and
courageous and generous. Did he not beg poor Anfos
to share our home? Did he not go and bring him down
from the mountains when you were still a small
baby in arms? It was surely not your father who spoke
of turning him out, but your father's illness. We say
many strange things when we are ill, and the saints
who are good and wise do not listen — or if they do
listen they always forget. Let us also forget as your
father has forgotten. And now I must put some fresh
ice on his head.3

Thus did Marie release her son from blame very
simply, even as she released her husband.

333