The Father bent and clasped the hand of Jimmy
firmly. The question he asked was between Jimmy Malone and his
God. The answer almost strangled him.
"Can you confess that mortal sin, Jimmy?" asked the priest.
The drops on Jimmy's face merged in one bath of agony. His hands
clenched and his breath seemed to go no lower than his throat.
"Lied--Dannie," he rattled. "Sip-rate him--and Mary."
"Are you trying to confess that you betrayed a confidence of
Dannie Macnoun and married the girl who belonged to him,
yourself?"
Jimmy assented.
His horrified eyes hung on the priest's face and saw it turn cold
and stern. Always the thing he had done had tormented him; but
not until the past summer had he begun to realize the depth of
it, and it had almost unseated his reason. But not until now had
come fullest appreciation, and Jimmy read it in the eyes filled
with repulsion above him.
"And with that sin on your soul, you ask the last sacrament and
the seal of forgiveness! You have not wronged God and the Holy
Catholic Church as you have this man, with whom you have lived
for years, while you possessed his rightful wife. Now he is here,
in deathless devotion, fighting to save you. You may confess to
him. If he will forgive you, God and the Church will ratify it,
and set the seal on your brow.
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