[Gutenberg 8515] • The Three Cities Trilogy: Lourdes, Volume 5

He was growing excited, full of anguish, and superb. It was his bereavement, his heart wound, which thus exasperated him, the great blow which had felled him for a moment, but against which he again rose erect, defying grief, and stubborn in his stoic belief in an omnipotent God, who was the master of mankind, and reserved felicity to those whom He selected. Again, however, he made an effort to calm himself, and resumed in a more gentle voice#58; "At all events the fold is always open, my dear son, and here you are back in it since you have repented. You cannot imagine how happy it makes me."