"And he is discreet and courageous and virtuous—"
"Holy Father—" I began in distress, for I thought he was mocking me.
"And he desires nothing; better than to serve his spiritual superiors in any employment to which they may put him—Eh, my son?"
I looked into the Pope's face and down again; but I said nothing.
"Eh, my son?" he said again with a certain sharpness.
"Holy Father, I have been taught never to contradict my superiors; but indeed in this—"
"Bravo!" said Innocent.
Then he turned to my Lord Abbot, as if I were no longer in the room.
"The question," he said, "is not only whether this young gentleman is capable of hearing everything and saying nothing, of preserving his virtue, of handling locked caskets without even desiring to look inside unless it is his business, of living in the world yet not being of it—but whether he is willing to do all this without being paid for it—except perhaps his bare expenses."
My Lord Abbot said nothing.