Religion itself"-- here he sighed deeply--"has no hold upon them." "But you, my father," I began, and stopped abruptly, conscious of a sharp throbbing pain in my temples.
"I," he answered, gravely, "am the servant of Christ.

As such, the plague has no terrors for me.

Unworthy as I am, for my Master's sake I am ready--nay, willing--to face all deaths." He spoke firmly, yet without arrogance.

I looked at him in a certain admiration, and was about to speak, when a curious dizziness overcame me, and I caught at his arm to save myself from falling.

The street rocked like a ship at sea, and the skies whirled round me in circles of blue fire.