nued, more solemnly, standing up, with his large fat
hand uplifted, "I exact of you an act of faith."

"Get out!" said the man, with hatred.

But the priest did not stir. Goaded by the urgence of the case,
impelled by the necessity of saving this soul in spite of itself, he
became implacable.

"You are going to die," he said, "you are going to die. You have only
a few more minutes to live. Submit."

"No," said the man.

The black-robed priest caught hold of both his hands.

"Submit. No discussion. You are losing precious time. All your
reasoning is of no account. We are alone, you and I before God."

He shook his head with the low bulging forehead, the prominent fleshy
nose, wide moist nostrils dark with snuff, thin yellow lips like twine
tight across two projecting teeth that showed by themselves in the
darkness. There were lines on his forehead and between his eyebrows
and around his mouth. His cheeks and chin were covered with a grey
layer.

"I represent God," he said. "You are in my presence as if you were in
the presence of God. Simply say 'I believe,' and I will absolve you.
'I believe,' that is all. The rest makes no difference to me."

He bent lower and lower, almost gluing his face to that of the dying
man, trying to plant his absolution like a blow.

"Simply say with me, 'Our Father, who art in heaven.' I do not ask you
to do anything else."

The sick man's face contracted.

"No--no!"

Suddenly the priest rose with a triumphant air.

"At last! You have said it."

"No."

"Ah!" muttered the priest between his teeth.

He twisted the man's hands in his. You felt he would have put his arms
around him to stifle him, assassinate him if his death rattle would
have brought a confession--so possessed was he with the desire to
persuade him, to snatch from him the words he had come to seek on his
lips.

He let the withered hands go, paced the room like a wild beast, then
came back and stationed himself in front of the bed again.

"Remember--you are going to die," he stammered to the miserable man.
"You will soon be in the earth. Say, 'Our Father,' just these two
words, nothing else."

He hung over him with his eyes on his mouth, his dark, crouching figure
like a demon lying in wait for a soul, like the whole Church over dying
humanity.

"Say it! Say it! Say it!"

The sick man tried to wrest himself free. There was a rattle of fury
in his throat. With the remnant of his vo