'I did not accuse you personally,' argued the younger man. 'I meant that the Church would never allow Sister Giovanna to ask for her freedom.'
'The greater includes the less,' replied the other. 'The Church is my family, it includes myself, and I claim the right to defend it against an unjust accusation. Sister Giovanna is as free to ask for a dispensation as you were to resign from the army when you were ordered to join an expedition in which you nearly lost your life.'
'It is the truth. Sister Giovanna has devoted herself to a cause in which she too may risk her life.'
'The risk a nurse runs nowadays is not great!'
'You are mistaken. If she carries out her intention, she will be exposed to a great danger.'
'What intention?' asked Giovanni, instantly filled with anxiety.
'She has asked permission to join the other Sisters of the order who are going out to Rangoon to nurse the lepers there.'
'Lepers!' Severi's features were convulsed with horror. 'She, nurse lepers! It is not possible! It is certain death.'
'No, it is not certain death, by any means, but you will admit the risk.'
Giovanni was beside himself in an instant.
'She shall not go!' he cried furiously. 'You shall not make her kill herself, make her commit suicide, for your glorification--that what you call your Church may add another martyr to its death-roll! You shall not, I say! Do you hear me?' He grasped the prelate's arm roughly. 'If you must have martyrs, go yourselves! Risk your own lives for your own glory, instead of sacrificing women on your altars--women who should live to be wives and mothers, an honour to mankind!'
'No, I am human, and I will not tolerate your human sacrifice! I am a man, and I will not let the woman I love be sent to a horrible death, to delight your Moloch of a God!'
Giovanni's fiery rage leapt from invective to sarcasm.
'Raving! That is your answer, that is the sum of your churchman's argument! A man who will not let you make a martyr of the woman he adores is raving! Do you find that in Saint Thomas Aquinas, or in Saint Augustine, or in Saint Jerome?' He dropped his voice and suddenly spoke with cold deliberation. 'She shall not go. I swear that I will make it impossible.'
'If that is an oath,' he said, 'it is a foolish one. If it is a threat, it is unworthy of you.'