_Theobald, surprised_. Your words, Ethbert, are sermons. Where do they
come from?

_Ethbert_. He who is acquainted with God speaks the word of God; and God
is love. God will not revenge and kill with hatred. God pardons and
bestows grace.

_Theobald, agitated_. You would say, perhaps, that God is not with me,
because I avenge myself of my enemies. Have they not deserved my
hatred?

_Ethbert_. "Love your enemies," saith God to those who know him. "Avenge
not yourselves," he says again to his beloved.

_Theobald, still more astonished_. Your words trouble me. Is it then a
crime to destroy an adversary?

_Ethbert_. Cain rose up against his brother Abel; and it was because the
works of his brother were good, but his own were evil. The Christian
does not hate. The Christian does not avenge himself.

_Theobald_. Am I then not a Christian?

_Ethbert, mildly and respectfully_. He who is of Christ, walks as Christ
himself walked. Christ went from place to place doing good; and it is
Christ himself, who says to his Church: "Love one another. He who
loveth is of God."

Theobald was silent. These words: "He who loveth is of God," had touched