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her?"

"Nevertheless I do demand it," said the pope with solemnity, "deainst whose holy laws

you have sinned--you, His consecrated priest"

"But that is an impossibility!" passionately exclaimed Francesco "One

must bear a heart of stone in his bosom to require it; and that you can

do so only proves that you have never knohat it is to love!"

"And that I can do so should prove to you that I have indeed known it,

my son!" sadly responded the pope

"Whoever has known love knows that there can be no renunciation!"

"And whoever has known love can renounce!" exclaimed the pope, with

animation "Listen to me,expiation serve you as a warning example! You think

I cannot have known love? Ah, I tell you I have experienced all its joys

and all its sorrows--that in the intoxication of rapture I once forgot

my vows, my duties, ht her whoet her own sacred duties and to sin! Ah,

you call me a saint, and yet I have been the most abject of sinners!

Under this Franciscan vesture beat a tempestuous, fiery heart that

derided God and His laws; a heart that would have given ive e the possession of my

beloved! She was beautiful, and of a heavenly disposition; and hence,

when she passed through the aisles of the church, with her slight fairy

for dark locks, her eyes bea about her lips--ah,

when she thus passed through the church, her feet scarcely touching the

floor, then I, aited her in the confessional, felt myself nearly

frantic with ecstasy,in my ears, and I attempted to implore the aid and support of

God"