was one of the most tormented men

"And you said?" "I said I had guessed. I could not tell him more. But oh, his face! His face! I wept." "It killed him, of course. The last time I saw him I thought he wasn't well, but he laughed at my suggestion that he see a doctor." "It is as God wills. I think Ralph de Bricassart was one of the most tormented men I have ever known. In death he will find the peace he could not find here in this life." "The boy, Vittorio! A tragedy." "Do you think so? I like rather to think of it as beautiful. I cannot believe Dane found death anything but welcome, and it is not surprising that Our Dear Lord could not wait a moment longer to gather Dane unto Himself. I mourn, yes, not for the boy. For his mother, who must suffer so much! And for his sister, his uncles, his grandmother. No, I do not mourn for him. Father O'neill lived in almost total purity of mind and spirit. What could death be for him but the entrance into everlasting life? For the rest of us, the passage is not so easy." From his hotel Rainer dispatched a cable to London which he couldn't allow to convey his anger, hurt or disappointment. It merely said: MUST RETURN BONN BUT WILL BE IN LONDON WEEKEND STOP WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME QUERY ALL MY LOVE RAIN On his desk in the office at Bonn were an express delivery letter from Justine, and a registered packet which his secretary informed him had come from Cardinal de Bricassart's lawyers in Rome. He opened this first, to learn that under the terms of Ralph de Bricassart's will he was to add another company to his already formidable list of directorships. Michar Limited. And Drogheda. Exasperated yet curiously touched, he understood that this was the Cardinal's way of telling him that in the final weighing he had not been found wanting, that the prayers during the war years had borne fruit. Into Rainer's hands he had delivered the future welfare of Meggie O'neill and her people. Or so Rainer interpreted it, for the wording of the Cardinal's will was quite impersonal. It could not dare be otherwise. He threw the packet into the basket for general nonsecret correspondence, immediate reply, and opened the letter from Justine. It began badly, without any kind of salutation.