'
'Then, indeed, I did well,' replied Marcus, 'to leave it on your
finger during your sickness. I looked at it and saw that it was a
Christian seal. Had it been one of those which are yet seen too
often, with the stamp of a daemon, I should have plucked it off, and
perhaps have destroyed it. The ring of a blessed martyr I Let us
seek, let us seek! But, brother Basil,' he added gravely, 'has there
passed through your heart no evil thought? I like not this falling
of the ring.'
Basil held up his wasted hand with a smile.
'True, true; you have lost flesh. Be thankful for it, dear brother;
so much the easier you combat with him whose ally is this body of
death. True, the ring may have fallen simply because your finger was
so thin. But be warned, O Basil, against that habit of mind which
interprets in an earthly sense things of divine meaning.'
'I had indeed let my thoughts dwell upon worldliness,' Basil
admitted.
The monk smiled a satisfied reproof.
'Even so, even so! And look you! In the moment of your avowal my
hand falls upon the ring.'
Rejoicing together, they inspected it.
Pages:
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507
508