"
"Did he command you not to tell me, Hugh?"
"For love of you, Mora, out of tender regard for your happiness, the
Bishop counselled me not to tell you."
"He would have had you to become a party, with himself, and old Mary
Antony, in my permanent deception?"
Hugh was a loyal friend.
"He would have had me to become a party, with himself, in securing your
permanent peace, Mora," he said, sternly.
She loved his sternness. So much did she adore him for having
triumphed where she had made sure that he would fail, so much did she
despise herself for having judged him so poorly, rated him so low, that
she could have knelt upon the floor and clasped his feet! Yet must she
strive for wisdom and calmness.
"Then how came you to tell me, Hugh, that which might well imperil not
only my peace but your own happiness?"
"Mora," said the Knight, "if I have done wrong, may our blessed Lady
pardon me, and comfort you. But I could not take my happiness knowing
that it came to me by reason of a deception practised upon you. Our
love must have its roots in perfect truthfulness and trust. Also you
and I had together accepted the vision as divine. I had kneeled in
your sight and praised our blessed Lady for this especial grace
vouchsafed on my behalf. But now, knowing it to have been a
sacrilegious fraud, every time you spoke with joy of the special grace,
every time you blessed our Lady for her loving-kindness, I, by my
silence, giving mute assent, should have committed sacrilege afresh.
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