"Everything, O Sanctity:" the stoic responded with a sob and a stony
glare. Hadrian inquired for the number of his room; and put a similar
question to the other four whom He had noted. When He had blessed all,
He sent them away, and sat alone for a minute or two. Then He went to
visit the big boy: who looked at Him bravely, with tearful innocent
eyes. To Hadrian, it was wonderful to see this great virile virgin
of nineteen. He elicited a not unusual and simple tale: a little
Gaelic farm, always Catholic through all persecutions, the third of
eight sons, the Vocation at twelve years of age, the mother wanted to
confess to her own son. It was idyllic. It would come exquisitely in
the objective bucolic manner of Theokritos. The long shapely limbs
trembled before Him; the grand shoulders bowed. He gave the boy His
Own white sash as a present for his mother: bade him be a good priest;
and left him wallowing in happiness. Hadrian stopped in the corridor,
disappointed because the lad came from a farm: He had placed him beside
the sea, and had conceived a mental image of him, bare-legged, in a
blue guernsey, at the rudder of a fishing-smack. But the next, the
muscular hobbledehoy, really did come from a farm: his skin had the
unmistakable tan of the sun on a wheat-field: and his front was bovine.
So was his manner. He was so frightened by the importance of his
visitor that he spoke with surliness, and in the voice of a child of
thirteen. Hadrian was astonished at the discrepancy between the voice
and the speaker: He made him less uncomfortable by substituting an
official manner for His friendly one (which the hobbledehoy could not
understand) asking his name and ordinary questions about his status and
addressing him as Mr. Macleod. It was a magnificent animal, incapable
of the finer sentimental emotions, likely to conceal fat in a cassock
(or in corduroy, if on a farm) before the age of thirty. Privately the
Pope wondered what in the world was the sign of this one's Vocation.
He Himself could perceive none: but then He was inexperienced; and the
youth was secretive. Hadrian tried to draw him out. Was he happy? Oh
yes. Did he want anything? Oh no. To what diocese did he belong? To
Devana. When did he expect the priesthood? A look of wild terror came
into the grey eyes. Hadrian perceived a clue; and pressed on, repeating
his inquiry. "I never will be," the creature shrilled.
"Why not?"
No answer: but a rush to the bedside and a face hidden. Hadrian took
him by the shoulders, and made an act of will. "Why not?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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