[22] Those were indeed the days of faith."
"I warn you that I can't permit this! His Excellency represents his
Majesty the King!"
"King or rook! What difference does that make? For us there is no
king other than the legitimate[23]--"
"Halt!" shouted the lieutenant in a threatening tone, as if he were
commanding his soldiers. "Either you withdraw what you have said or
tomorrow I will report it to his Excellency!"
"Go ahead--right now--go on!" was the sarcastic rejoinder of
Fray Damaso as he approached the officer with clenched fists. "Do
you think that because I wear the cloth, I'm afraid? Go now, while
I can lend you my carriage!"
The dispute was taking a ludicrous turn, but fortunately the Dominican
intervened. "Gentlemen," he began in an authoritative tone and
with the nasal twang that so well becomes the friars, "you must not
confuse things or seek for offenses where there are none. We must
distinguish in the words of Fray Damaso those of the man from those
of the priest. The latter, as such, per se, can never give offense,
because they spring from absolute truth, while in those of the man
there is a secondary distinction to be made: those which he utters ab
irato, those which he utters ex ore, but not in corde, and those which
he does utter in corde.
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