"
Montanelli looked up, trembling faintly. He
was beginning to understand.
"I will communicate with your friends, of
course. But--to go with you--it is impossible--
I am a priest."
"And I accept no favours from priests. I will
have no more compromises, Padre; I have had
enough of them, and of their consequences. You
must give up your priesthood, or you must give
up me."
"How can I give you up? Arthur, how can I
give you up?"
"Then give up Him. You have to choose between
us. Would you offer me a share of your
love--half for me, half for your fiend of a God?
I will not take His leavings. If you are His, you
are not mine."
"Would you have me tear my heart in two?
Arthur! Arthur! Do you want to drive me
mad?"
The Gadfly struck his hand against the wall.
"You have to choose between us," he repeated
once more.
Montanelli drew from his breast a little case
containing a bit of soiled and crumpled paper.
"Look!" he said.
"I believed in you, as I believed in God.
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