Being blind, he could not see to administer the Element, and therefore his hand was guided by one of his imperial brethren, who also had been made a priest.

The tongue of this priest had been slit, but now and again he gibbered some direction into the ear of Nicephorus.

By the altar, watching all, sat a stern-faced monk, the confessor of the Caesars and of the _Nobilissimi_, who was put there to spy upon them.
I followed the rite to its end, observing these unhappy prisoners seeking from the mystery of their faith the only consolation that remained to them.

Many of them were men innocent of any crime, save that of adherence to some fallen cause, political or religious; victims were they, not sinners, to be released by death alone.

I remember that, as the meaning of the scene came home to me, I recalled the words of Irene, who had said that she believed this world to be a hell, and found weight in them.