Mercy and pity. Pity and peace. Pity and mercy and peace, three eternal gems in the tabernacle of life, burnished ceaselessly with human dust. From dust to dust. Gypo’s eyes roamed around the church. His eyes were very dim. There was a blur before them. He thought he saw somebody whom he knew. He was not sure. Yes. They were looking at him. There, on the left, on the other side of the aisle. It was a long way off. What? Frankie McPhillip’s mother! He set out, with a great sigh, towards her. He fell in a heap in front of her seat. He raised his head to her face. He saw her face, a great, white, sad face, with tears running down the fat cheeks. He struggled to his knees in the aisle before her. People were rushing to him talking. He waved his hands to keep them away. It was very dark. He swallowed the blood in his mouth and he cried out in a thick whisper: “Mrs. McPhillip, ’twas I informed on yer son Frankie. Forgive me. I’m dyin’.” “I forgive ye,” she sighed in a sad, soft whisper. “Ye didn’t know what ye were doin’.” He shivered from head to foot and bowed his head. He felt a great mad rush of blood to his head. A great joy filled him. He became conscious of infinite things. Pity and mercy and peace and the phantoms of death breathing faint breaths. Mercy and pity and peace. “Lemme go!” he cried, struggling to his feet. He stood up straight, in all the majesty of his giant stature, towering over all, erect and majestic, with his limbs like pillars, looking towards the altar. He cried out in a loud voice: “Frankie, yer mother has forgiven me.” Then with a gurgling sound he fell forward on his face. His hat rolled off. Blood gushed from his mouth. He stretched out his limbs in the shape of a cross. He shivered and lay still. TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE This transcription follows the text of the edition published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1925. However, the following words have been changed from the original text to correct what are believed to be unambiguous printing errors. * “_recontre_” was changed to “_rencontre_” (Chapter I). * “Your as bad” was changed to “You’re as bad” (Chapter III). * “stood at east” was changed to “stood at ease” (Chapter III). * “awkard” was changed to “awkward” (Chapter IV). * “ridicul-ulous” was changed to “ridiculous” (Chapter VII). * “It it” was changed to “Is it” (Chapter VIII). * “its less” was changed to “it’s less” (Chapter XI). * “for out” was changed to “far out” (Chapter XI). * “sang into” was changed to “sank into” (Chapter XI). * “a think like” was changed to “a thing like” (Chapter XII). * “banis-ister” was changed to “banister” (Chapter XVI). * Five occurrences of mismatched quotation marks were repaired.