The Priest and the Acolyte

It was the voice he had heard for the first time only that very morning: [29] the voice of the little acolyte that had served his Mass. Was not the story that of a priest who fell in love with a boy who served him at the altar, and the boy was discovered in the priest’s room, and a scandal arose? Entirely forgetful of all the world, absolutely oblivious of every thing but one another, wrapped in the beautiful visions of a love that far outshone all the splendour of the summer night, the priest and the little acolyte were together. Their lips met in one last kiss of perfect love, and all was over.