Here the model of the _nihil respondit_ is taken very seriously." Benedetto shuddered, horrified at this allusion to the Divine Master, and the fear of seeming a presumptuous imitator.

At that moment he ceased to feel his illness--the fever, the thirst, the heaviness of his head.
"Oh, no!" he exclaimed, "now I will answer! You say you are not Pilate.
But the truth is that I am the least of Christ's servants, because I have been unfaithful to Him, and you repeat to me Pilate's very words:--_Quid est veritas ?_ Now you are not disposed to receive truth, as Pilate was not disposed to receive it." "Oh!" his interlocutor exclaimed.

"And why not ?" His friend laughed noisily.
"Because," Benedetto replied, "he who performs deeds of darkness is surrounded by darkness, and the light cannot reach him.

You perform deeds of darkness.

It is not difficult to understand; you are the Minister of the Interior--I know you by reputation.