Borgia was a very admirable person?"

"Well, I got a good deal of edification out of him," said Helbeck
quietly.

"Did you? Would you be like him if you could? Do you remember when his
wife was very ill, and he was praying for her, he heard a voice--do you
remember?"

"Go on," said Helbeck, nodding.

"And the voice said, 'If thou wouldst have the life of the Duchess
prolonged, it shall be granted; but it is not expedient for
thee'--'_thee_,' mind--not her! When he heard this, he was penetrated by
a most tender love of God, and burst into tears. Then he asked God to do
as He pleased with the lives of his wife and his children and himself. He
gave up--I suppose he gave up--praying for her. She became much worse and
died, leaving him a widower at the age of thirty-six. Afterwards--please
don't interrupt!--in the space of three years, he disposed somehow of all
his eight children--some of them I reckoned must be quite babies--took
the vows, became a Jesuit, and went to Rome. Do you approve of all that?"

Helbeck reddened. "It was a time of hard fighting for the Church," he
said gravely, after a pause, "and the Jesuits were the advance guard. In
such days a man may be called by God to special acts and special
sacrifices."

"So you do approve? Papa was a member of an Ethical Society at Cambridge.
They used sometimes to discuss special things--whether they were right or
wrong. I wonder what they would have said to St. Francis Borgia?"