The latter, who evidently possessed the greater authority of the two, invited Benedetto to be seated in an easy-chair, opposite to him.
"You must not think, dear Signor Maironi," said he in a voice both harmonious and deep, and which seemed, in a way, to correspond with the melancholy look in his eyes, "you must not think that we are here as two powerful arms of the State.

We are here, at the present moment, as two individuals of a very rare species, two statesmen who know their business well, and who despise it still more.

We are two great idealists, who know how to lie in a most ideal manner to those who deserve nothing better, and who also know how to adore Truth; two democrats, but nevertheless two adorers of that recondite Truth which has never been touched by the dirty hands of old Demos." Having spoken thus, the man of the flowing grey beard once more began to stroke it, first with one hand, then with the other, and, puckering his eyes, which sparkled with a shrewd smile, for he was pleased with his own words, watched for surprise on Benedetto's face.
"We are, moreover, believers also," he continued.
The other personage, without raising his head from the back of the couch, lifted his open hands, and said, almost solemnly: "Steady!" "Let the word pass, my dear friend," the first speaker said, without looking towards him.

"We are both believers, but in different ways.

I believe in God with all my might, and my might is great, and I shall have Him with me always, You believe in God, with all your weaknesses, and they are few, and you will not have Him with you until you are upon your death-bed." Another shrewd and self-complacent smile, another pause.