There was silence. The crowd parted to make way for him. Even the
members of the committee craned to get a good look at him as he moved
quietly, almost demurely, to the witness chair. The only movement in
the room was that of the Papal Nuncio who, in his robes, sat in the
front rank of the audience. He crossed himself as Cave passed and shut
his eyes.
Cave was respectful, almost inaudible. Several times he was asked
to repeat his answers even though the room was remarkably still.
At first Cave would answer only in monosyllables, not looking up,
not meeting the gaze of his interrogators who took heart at this,
professionals themselves: their voices which had almost matched his
for inaudibility, began to boom with confidence.
I waited for the lightning. The first intimation came when Cave looked
up. For nearly five minutes he had not raised his eyes once during the
questioning. Suddenly he looked up and I saw that he was trying to
locate the camera; he did, and it was like a revelation: a sudden shock
went through me and as well as I knew him, as few illusions as I had
about him, I was arrested by his gaze ... it was as though only he and
I existed, as though he _were_ I; all of those who watched responded in
the same fashion to that unique gaze.
The Committee, however, was not aware of what had happened, that
their intended victim had with one glance appropriated the eye of the
world. The subsequent catechism is too well known to record here; we
used it as the main exposition of Cavesword, the one testament which
contained the entire thing. It was almost as if the Congressmen had
been given the necessary questions to ask, like those supporting
actors whose minor roles are designed to illuminate the genius of the
star. Two of the seven members of the Committee were Cavites. This was
soon apparent. The other five were violently in opposition. One as a
Catholic, another as a Protestant, and two as materialistic lovers of
the old order. Only one of the attackers, a quiet scholarly-looking
Jew, made any real point. He argued the perniciousness of an
organization which, if allowed to prosper, would replace the state and
force all dissenters to conform; it was his contention that the state
prospered most when no one system was sufficiently strong to dominate.
I wanted to hear more of him but his Catholic colleague, a bull-voiced
Irishman, drowned him out, winning the day for the Cavites.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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