"Oh, Father! You do not know me. Christ said: 'Blessed are the poor in spirit.' I am very proud, Father--horribly, wrongly proud."
The priest did not answer her directly. He said in a musing tone:
"I have often thought how that saying of Our Lord's has been misinterpreted. By 'poor in spirit' surely He did not mean poverty of spirit, but that to be truly poor--that is, detached from the things of this world--a man must not only give up those things themselves, but give up even the desire for them. That is how I understand the saying, 'Blessed are the poor in spirit.'"
"But, Father--to go back--to be his wife--after---- Oh, it is not only that--but in one of his furies he might kill me--he might kill my little son! You don't know--you can't imagine what he is like then----"
"God does not ask impossibilities from His children," said Father Raphael firmly. "'He is faithful that promised. With the temptation He will also make a way of escape.' Should you fail to save your husband from this fatal habit--should your life, or your son's life, be in danger, then your duty would be to save yourself. The commandment is not 'Thou shalt love thy neighbor better than thyself'--but 'as thyself.'"
"And are people ever really saved from opium or morphine, Father?"
"Yes, my child. One of the best men that I know--a fellow worker with me here--was a morphinomaniac."
"By God's mercy and his own desire to be saved."
"Ah, Father--that is just it! Will he--will my husband desire to be saved? Will he let me help him?"
"The effort must be yours--the result is with God. If, after you have honestly tried by every means in your power--and failed--then--I, a Roman Catholic priest, to whom marriage is a sacrament, say to you: 'Go home to your own land and your own kinsfolk.'"
He spoke solemnly. His face looked stern for the first time.
Sophy rose. Her spirit was stilled, but her body felt as though it had been beaten with staves. Every bone and nerve ached dully. The priest rose too. She looked at him timidly:
His lovely smile melted the stern look. Instinctively she knelt, and he stretched out his hands, making the sign of the cross in the air above her bent head.
"_Benedicat te omnipotens Deus, Pater et Filius et Spiritus Sanctus._ Amen."
