"
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 prescribed morality. Shall no distinction be recognised
between my conduct and that of the common sot or debauchee whose soul
lies in blind subjection to his lower instincts? I, who have laboured
early and late to remove temptation from my people--who have punished
offences against conduct as unsparingly as spiritual error--I, who have
not scrupled to destroy every picture in my galleries that contained a
nude figure or a wanton attitude--I, who have been blessed from
childhood by tokens of divine favour and miraculous intervention--can I
doubt that I have earned the privileges of that higher state in which
the soul is no longer responsible for the failings of the body? And
yet--and yet--what if I were mistaken?" he moaned.
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