Chapter 23: Noli Me Tangere

⁠​​​‌​​​​​​‌​​​‌​​‌​‌‌‌‌​​‌‌‌​​‌‌​​​​‌‌‌​​​‌‌‌‌​‌​‌‌‌‌‌‌‌​‌​‌‌‌​​⁠"I have attracted you by a Play—for you were a child, and children are taught by games. But when one method of instruction is exhausted it is cast aside and exchanged for a higher one, that the child may ripen to maturity." Thus spoke the voice of the Heavenly Teacher to the countess as, absorbed in her grief, she drove through the dusk of a wintry morning. She almost wondered, as she gazed out in