Then a cloud descended over all, and certain days and weeks passed, and again the boy was walking swiftly toward the church.

But the woman was not with him, and he believed that he was alone, though the messengers of evil were upon him.

Two dark figures moved in the shadow, silent, noiseless in their walk, muffled in long garments.

He went on, no longer deigning to look back, beyond fear as he had ever been, and beyond even the expectation of a danger.

He went into the church, and the two men made gestures, and spoke in low tones, and hid themselves in the shade of the buttresses outside.
The vision grew darker and a terrible stillness was over everything, for the church was not opened to the sight this time.