The church was very dark and silent.
An old man in a monk's robe came forward out of the shadow of the choir and stood behind the marble rails and looked down at the boy's prostrate figure, wonderingly.

Then the low gateway was opened and he descended the three steps and bent down to the young head.
"What wouldest thou ?" he asked.
Simon Abeles rose until he knelt, and looked up into the old man's face.
"I am a Jew.

I would be a Christian.

I would be baptized." "Fearest thou not thy people ?" the monk asked.
"I fear not death," answered the boy simply.
"Come with me." Trembling, the woman followed them both, and all were lost in the gloom of the church.

They were not to be seen, and all was still for a space.
Suddenly a clear voice broke the silence.
"_Ego baptizo te in nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti._" Then the woman and the boy were standing again without the entrance in the chilly air, and the ancient monk was upon the threshold under the carved arch; his thin hands, white in the darkness, were lifted high, and he blessed them, and they went their way.
In the moving vision the radiance was brighter still and illuminated the streets as they moved on.