THE NINTH MAN
"Kill yourself, then!" Then they ran off after their sheep, crying, "Kill yourself!"
At this he dropped his hands from his eyes, and, kneeling upright, he raised his face up to heaven and gave thanks to God that from the mouths of children he had been taught how to avoid the sin of taking the life of another.
So I stayed there for a time and went back into the town as though refreshed with water. Though he had not seen me nor spoken to me, I was glad to have come near him in his simplicity, for San Moglio was keeping step to some mighty and inaudible music, as a city will when it becomes a mob. The very children ceased their play and ran through its streets, small shrieking furies, more terrible than the wantoning girls, their grace and their youth, and that they knew not why they ran, marking the depth of us.
It seemed to me that in all this great city, but for my lady, I saw not one familiar face. Can the whole heart and soul of a town be like a changeling, or had San Molio worn a mask? I wondered. Or under the torture of Mazzaleone's suspense had
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