wn will, and
during this last period it seemed to him, he himself had weighted the
scales against the good impulse. He longed to drop off this "self" which
held him back like a heavy garment. He saw that the affection for the
Vision was part of this burdensome "self." He aspired to Divine Truth in
all its mystery, whatever it might be, and gave himself to Divine
Truth with such violence of desire that the spasm of it nearly rent him
asunder. And the stars shone forth upon him such a lively sense of the
immeasurable vastness of Divine Truth as compared with his own and his
friends' religious conceptions, and at the same time such a firm faith
that he was travelling towards that vastness, that he suddenly raised
his head from the pillow exclaiming:

"Ah!"

The sister was dozing, not so the Professor.

"What is it?" said he. "Do you see something?"

Benedetto did not reply immediately. The Professor raised the lamp, and
bent over him. Then Benedetto turned his face and looked at Mayda with
an expression of intense desire, and after gazing at him a long time,
sighed:

"Ah, Professor! Indeed you must come where I am going!"

"But do you know where you are going?" Mayda said.

"I know," Benedetto replied, "that I am parting with all that is
corruptible, all that is burdensome."

He then inquired if some one had gone to the parish church. Not yet:
only a quarter of an hour had passed. He apologised. It had seemed a
century to him. He entreated the Professor to retire, to take some rest,
and once more he fell to watching the celestial lights. Then he closed
his eyes, longing for Jesus, for two human arms which should lift him
up, should encircle him; longed for a human breast, incarnate of the
Divine, in which to hide his head, as he entered the vast mystery.

At six o'clock he received the Sacraments. The thermometer had risen a
few points. At nine Benedetto asked for Giovanni Selva, He learned
that he had been there, and had gone away again, but that di Leyni was
waiting. He insisted upon seeing him, notwithstanding the Professor's
opposition. He told him he wished to greet at least some of his friends
of the Catacombs. Di Leyni knew of this desire, for Selva had mentioned
it to him. He could announce to Benedetto that they were to meet at
Villa Mayda about one o'clock. The nursing sister who had come shortly
before to relieve her companion indiscreetly remarked that many of
the common people were asking for news.