Gathering of Brother Hilarius

"[...] But the unexpected happened. "Dost thou dare speak to me of my mother? I, love her? - I hate her;" and she flung herself down on the grass in a passion of weeping. Even a master of theology is helpless before a woman's tears. "Maid, maid," said Hilarius, in deep distress, "indeed I did not mean to vex thee;" and he came up and laid his hand on her shoulder. So successfully can the Prince of Darkness simulate grief! The dancer sat up and brushed away her tears; she looked fairer...
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"[...] But the unexpected happened. "Dost thou dare speak to me of my mother? I, love her? - I hate her;" and she flung herself down on the grass in a passion of weeping. Even a master of theology is helpless before a woman's tears. "Maid, maid," said Hilarius, in deep distress, "indeed I did not mean to vex thee;" and he came up and laid his hand on her shoulder. So successfully can the Prince of Darkness simulate grief! The dancer sat up and brushed away her tears; she looked fairer and more flowerlike than before, sitting on the green sward, looking up at him through shining lashes. "There, boy, 'tis naught. How could'st thou know? But what of thine own mother?" "I know not." "Nay, what is this? And thy father?" "He was a gentle knight who died in battle ere I knew him. I came a little child to the Monastery, and know no other place." "Ah," - vindictively, - "then thy mother may have been a light o' love." "Light of love; it has a wondrous fair sound," said Hilarius with a smile.[...]".