Still it was faith.

It was--enclosed in a rough envelope of frail ignorance--that sense denied, to proud minds, of the hidden truth which is life; that mysterious radium within the mass of impure ore.

It was faith, it was guiltless error, it was love, it was suffering, it was a visible something belonging to the union of the highest mysteries of the Universe.

The ground itself, the great sad face of the church, and the small humble faces of the little houses surrounding the square, seem to understand, to reverence it.

In his mind's eye Giovanni saw the image of a dead woman who had been dear to him, and who had believed thus; a cold wave flowed through his blood, his knees bent under him.