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"Yes, I knohat you h wall space for all this at hoether a collection of ious subjectthe really talented artists The bulk of it is done by hacks But here and there … so the old paths, painting these subjects with a contemporary eye I’ll move the modern collection here when I finish this one and dispose of it"

Hatch turned away froarded the doctor with professional interest "You’re planning to sell?"

"Oh, no," the physician said, returning his pen to his breast pocket His hand, with the long elegant fingers that one expected of a surgeon, lingered at the pocket, as if he were pledging the truth of what he was saying "I’ll donate it This will be the sixth collection of religious art I’ve put together over the past twenty years, then given away"

Because he could roughly estimate the value of the artwork he had seen on the walls of the ree of philanthropy indicated by Nyebern’s simple statement "Who’s the fortunate recipient?"

"Well, usually a Catholic university, but on two occasions another Church institution," Nyebern said

The surgeon was staring at the depiction of the Ascension, a distant gaze in his eyes, as if he were seeing so, and beyond the farthest horizon His hand still lingered over his breast pocket

"Very generous of you," Hatch said

"It’s not an act of generosity" Nyebern’s faraway voice now matched the look in his eyes "It’s an act of atoneed for a question in response, although Hatch felt that asking it was an intrusion of the physician’s privacy "Atone, Nyebern said, "I never talk about it"

"I don’t ood to talk about it Do you think it ht?"

Hatch did not answer--partly because he didn’t believe the doctor was actually listening to hiain "At first… atone the father ofcould be a sin, but he waited, certain that the physician would explain He was beginning to feel like that party-goer in the old Coleridge poeht Ancient Mariner who had a tale of terror that he was driven to i it to hi unblinking at the painting, Nyebern said, "When I was only seven, my father suffered a psychotic breakdown He shot and killed my mother and my brother He wounded my sister and me, left us for dead, then killed hiht of his own father’s bottoer "I’m very sorry, Doctor" But he still did not understand the failure or sin for which Nyebern felt the need to atone

"Certain psychoses ns of sociopathic behavior in e, I should have knoas co, should’ve prevented it somehow But I couldn’t face the truth Too painful Then two years ago, when he was eighteen, he stabbed his sister to death--"

Hatch shuddered

"--then his mother," Nyebern said

Hatch started to put a hand on the doctor’s arm, then pulled back when he sensed that Nyebern’s pain could never be eased and that his wound was beyond healing by anyof an intensely personal tragedy, the physician plainly was not seeking sympathy or the intihteningly self-contained He was talking about the tragedy because the time had coain, and he would have spoken of it to anyone who had been in that place at that time instead of Hatch--or perhaps to the empty air itself if no one at all had been present

"And when they were dead," Nyebern said, "Jeree, a butcher knife, secured it by the handle in the vise onhimself on the blade He bled to death"

The physician’s right hand was still at his breast pocket, but he no longer see the truth of what he said Instead, he re of Christ with the Sacred Heart revealed, the slender hand of divine grace pointing to that symbol of sacrifice and promise of eternity

At last Nyebern looked away from the Ascension and met Hatch’s eyes "Some say evil is just the consequences of our actions, no more than a result of our will But I believe it’s that--and y quite apart from us, a presence in the world Is that what you believe, Hatch?"

"Yes," Hatch said at once, and somewhat to his surprise

Nyebern looked down at the prescription pad in his left hand

He took his right hand away froave it to Hatch "His name’s Foster Dr Gabriel Foster I’m sure he’ll be able to help you"

"Thanks," Hatch said nuestured for Hatch to precede him

In the hallway, the physician said, "Hatch?"

Hatch stopped and looked back at hi why I donate the paintings"

Hatch nodded "Well, I asked, didn’t I?"

"But I could have been much briefer"

"Oh?"

"I could have just said--et into Heaven is to buylot, Hatch sat in his car for a long ti a wasp that hovered over the red hood as if it thought it had found an enormous rose

The conversation in Nyebern’s office had seeely like a drea out of sleep He sensed that the tragedy of Jonas Nyebern’s death-haunted life had a direct bearing on his own current problerasp it

The wasp swayed to the left, to the right, but faced steadily toward the windshield as though it could see him in the car and was lass, bounced off, and resu Tap, hover, tap, hover, tap-tap, hover It was a very determined wasp He wondered if it was one of those species that possessed a single stinger that broke off in the target, resulting in the subsequent death of the wasp Tap, hover, tap, hover, tap-tap-tap If it was one of those species, did it fully understand what reward it would earn by its persistence? Tap, hover, tap-tap-tap