CHAPTER XIV
I COULD not sleep, and before day broke I went forth into the silent streets and mounted to the Piazza Ogni Santi as though in search of Brother Agnello, for my soul thirsted for the sight of him. Though it was yet dark, I found him kneeling there, and with him many of his company of mercy, but he knelt apart as one praying by himself, so I knelt there among the others. And in the dawning light I saw that tears streamed down his cheeks, and I wondered if he, too, doubted. At sunrise he went into the church of Ogni Santi and confessed his sins and prepared as for death, and came forth again, and again knelt. He walked as though he saw no one. But now there was a great peace upon his face, and thus all day he remained. All day he knelt and he spoke not one word nor moved, but knelt there silently before God, and silence was upon the piazza where he was. The crowd that came and went unceasing moved as silently as those who carry the dead. And the silence of the piazza gained to the street, and from the street to the houses and the palaces.
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