From the whole packed s.p.a.ce the prayer rose up, in great and heavy waves of sound. There were cries of mockery three or four times, but each was suddenly cut off.... The waves of sound rolled round and ceased, and the silence was profound. The priest opened his eyes; closed them again.
Then with a loud voice he began to cry:
"O Christ, as Thine arms were extended--"
He stopped again, shaken even from that intense point of concentration to which he was forcing himself, by the amazing sound that met his ears.
He had heard, at the close of the _Our Father_, a noise which he could not interpret: but no more had happened. But now the whole world seemed screaming and swaying: he heard the trample of horses beneath him--voices in loud expostulation.
He opened his eyes; the clamour died again at the same instant.... For a moment his eyes wandered over the heads and up to the sky, to see if some vision.... Then he looked down....
Against the ladder on which he stood, a man"s figure was writhing and embracing the rungs kneeling on the ground. He was strangely dressed, in some sort of a loose gown, in a tight silk night-cap, and his feet were bare. The man"s head was dropped, and the priest could not see his face.
He looked beyond for some explanation, and there stood, all alone, a girl in a hooded cloak, who raised her great eyes to his. As he looked down again the man"s head had fallen back, and the face was staring up at him, so distorted with speechless entreaty, that even he, at first, did not recognize it....
Then he saw it to be his father, and understood enough, at least, to act as a priest for the last time.
He smiled a little, leaned his own head forward as from a cross, and spoke....
"_Absolvo te a peccatis tuis in nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti_...."
VI
He only awoke once again, after the strangling and the darkness had pa.s.sed. He could see nothing, nor hear, except a heavy murmuring noise, not unpleasant. But there was one last Pain not into which all others had pa.s.sed, keen and cold like water, and it was about his heart.
"O Christ--" he whispered, and so died.
THE END