creep away together, to some dark and
silent grave where the devouring army shall not find us; and we will lay
us down there, locked in one another's arms, and sleep, and sleep, and
sleep. And the hungry Christians shall pass by in the merciless daylight
above our heads; and when they howl for blood to drink and for flesh to
eat, their cry shall be faint in our ears; and they shall pass on their
ways and leave us to our rest."

And It answered yet again:

"Where shall I hide me? Is it not written: 'They shall run to and fro
in the city; they shall run upon the wall; they shall climb up upon the
houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief?' If I build me
a tomb on the mountain-top, shall they not break it open? If I dig me a
grave in the river-bed, shall they not tear it up? Verily, they are keen
as blood-hounds to seek out their prey; and for them are my wounds red,
that they may drink. Canst thou not hear them, what they sing?"

And they sang, as they went in between the scarlet curtains of the
Cathedral door; for the procession was over, and all the roses were
strewn:

"Ave, verum Corpus, natum
De Maria Virgine:
Vere passum, immolatum
In cruce pro homine!
Cujus latus perforatum
Undam fluxit cum sanguinae;
Esto nobis praegustatum
Mortis in examinae."

And when they had left off singing, he entered at the doorway, and
passed between the silent rows of monks and priests, where they knelt,
each man in his place, with the lighted candles uplifted. And he saw
their hungry eyes fixed on the sacred Body that he bore; and he knew why
they bowed their heads as he passed. For the dark stream ran down the
folds of his white vestments; and on the stones of the Cathedral floor
his footsteps left a deep, red stain.

So he passed up the nave to the chancel rails; and there the bearers
paused, and he went out from under the canopy and up to the altar steps.
To left and right the white-robed acolytes knelt with their censers and
the chaplains with their torches; and their eyes shone greedily in the
flaring light as they watched the Body of the Victim.

And as he stood before the altar, holding aloft with blood-stained hands
the torn and mangled body of his murdered love, the voices of the guests
bidden to the Eucharistic feast rang out in another peal of song:

"Oh salutaris Hostia,
Quae coeli pandis ostium;
Bella prae