"Peace be with thee and to thine house, my daughter," said the Padre
Maestro Paolo, spreading out his hands in priestly salutation as he
entered the oratory of the palazzo Giustiniani, where the Lady Marina
awaited him.
She had desired that the interview should take place in this chapel,
which she had not visited since her illness. A faint odor of desolation
stole through the dimness of the place to meet him--a breath from the
withered rose-petals which had dropped from the golden vases upon the
splendid embroidered altar-cloth and mingled with the dust of those many
days which had remained guiltless of Mass or service; the altar candles
were unlighted; the censer had lost its halo of mystic smoke.
"It were fitter to my mood, most Reverend Father, wert thou to scatter
penitential ashes before a desecrated altar which may send no incense of
praise to heaven."
"Nay, my daughter; love and faith may still minister, and God, the
Unchangeable, accept that service from every altar in Venice! 'The
sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit,' it is written in the Holy Book
which God hath granted for the comfort of His people.
Pages:
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355