The monk started up with a cry and looked eagerly; the bell began to ring. The green colour of death was becoming richer, the gla.s.s gained the fulness of real flesh; now it was a soft round whiteness. And Brother Jasper cried out in ecstasy,--
"It is Christ!"
Then the glow deepened, and from the Crucified One was shed a wonderful light like the rising of the sun behind the mountains, and the church was filled with its rich effulgence.
"Oh, G.o.d, it is moving!"
The Christ seemed to look at Brother Jasper and bow His head.
Two by two the monks walked silently in, and Brother Jasper lifted up his arms, crying:
"Behold a miracle! Christ has appeared to me!"
A murmur of astonishment broke from them, and they looked at Jasper gazing in ecstasy at the painted window.
"Christ has appeared to me.... I am saved!"
Then the prior came up to him and took him in his arms and kissed him.
"My son, praise be to G.o.d! you are whole again."
But Jasper pushed him aside, so that he might not be robbed of the sight which filled him with rapture; the monks crowded round, questioning, but he took no notice of them. He stood with outstretched arms, looking eagerly, his face lighted up with joy. The monks began to kiss his cowl and his feet, and they touched his hands.
"I am saved! I am saved!"
And the prior cried to them,--
"Praise G.o.d, my brethren, praise G.o.d! for we have saved the soul of Brother Jasper from eternal death."
But when the service was over and the monks had filed out, Brother Jasper came to himself--and he saw that the light had gone from the window; the Christ was cold and dead, a thing of the handicraft of man.
What was it that had happened? Had a miracle occurred? The question flashing through his mind made him cry out. He had prayed for a miracle, and a miracle had been shown him--the poor monk of San Lucido....And now he doubted the miracle. Oh, G.o.d must have ordained the d.a.m.nation of his soul to give him so little strength--perhaps He had sent the miracle that he might have no answer at the Day of Judgment.
"Faith thou hadst not--I showed Myself to thee in flesh and blood, I moved My head; thou didst not believe thine own eyes." ...
VII
Next day, at vespers, Jasper anxiously fixed his gaze on the stained-gla.s.s window--again a glow came from it, and as he moved the head seemed to incline itself; but now Jasper saw it was only the sun shining through the window--only the sun! Then the heaviness descended into the deepest parts of Jasper"s soul, and he despaired.
The night came and Jasper returned to his cell.... He leant against the door, looking out through the little window, but he could only see the darkness. And he likened it to the darkness in his own soul.
"What shall I do?" he groaned.
He could not tell the monks that it was not a miracle he had seen; he could not tell them that he had lost faith again.... And then his thoughts wandering to the future,--
"Must I remain all my life in this cold monastery? If there is no G.o.d, if I have but one life, what is the good of it? Why cannot I enjoy my short existence as other men? Am not I young--am not I of the same flesh and blood as they?"
Vague recollections came to him of those new lands beyond the ocean, those lands of sunshine and sweet odours. His mind became filled with a vision of broad rivers, running slow and cool, overshadowed by strange, luxuriant trees. And all was a wealth of beautiful colour.
"Oh, I cannot stay!" he cried; "I cannot stay!"
And it was a land of loving-kindness, a land of soft-eyed, gentle women.
"I cannot stay! I cannot stay!"
The desire to go forth was overwhelming, the walls of his cell seemed drawing together to crush him; he must be free. Oh, for life! life! He started up, not seeing the madness of his adventure; he did not think of the snow-covered desert, the night, the distance from a town. He saw before him the glorious sunshine of a new life, and he went towards it like a blind man, with outstretched arms.
Everyone was asleep in the monastery. He crept out of his cell and silently opened the door of the porter"s lodge; the porter was sleeping heavily. Jasper took the keys and unlocked the gate. He was free. He took no notice of the keen wind blowing across the desert; he hurried down the hill, slipping on the frozen snow.... Suddenly he stopped; he had caught sight of the great crucifix which stood by the wayside at the bottom of the hill. Then the madness of it all occurred to him. Wherever he went he would find the crucifix, even beyond the sea, and nowhere would he be able to forget his G.o.d. Always the recollection, always the doubt, and he would never have rest till he was in the grave. He went close to it and looked up; it was one of those strange Spanish crucifixes--a wooden image with long, thin arms and legs and protruding ribs, with real hair hanging over the shoulders, and a true crown of thorns placed on the head; the ends of the tattered cloth fastened about the loins fluttered in the wind. In the night the lifelikeness was almost ghastly; it might have been a real man that hung there, with great nails through his feet. The common people paid superst.i.tious reverence to it, and Jasper had often heard the peasants tell of the consolations they had received.
Why should not he too receive consolation? Was his soul not as worth saving as theirs? A last spark of hope filled him, and he lifted himself up on tip-toe to touch the feet.
"Oh, Christ, come down to me! tell me whether Thou art indeed a G.o.d. Oh, Christ, help me!"
But the words lost themselves in the wind and night.... Then a great rage seized him that he alone should receive no comfort. He clenched his fists and beat pa.s.sionately against the cross.
"Oh, you are a cruel G.o.d! I hate you, I hate you!"
If he could have reached it he would have torn the image down, and beat it as he had been beaten. In his impotent rage he shrieked out curses upon it--he blasphemed.
But his strength spent itself and he sank to the foot of the cross, bursting into tears. In his self-pity he thought his heart was broken.
Lifting himself to his knees, he clasped the wood with his hands and looked up for the last time at the dead face of Christ.
It was the end.... A strange peace came over him as the anguish of his mind fell away before the cold. His hands and his feet were senseless, he felt his heart turning to ice--and he felt nothing.
In a little while the snow began to fall, lightly covering his shoulders. Brother Jasper knew the secret of death at last.
VIII
The day broke slowly, dim and grey. There was a hurried knocking at the porter"s door, a peasant with white and startled face said that a brother was kneeling at the great cross in the snow, and would not speak.
The monks sallied forth anxiously, and came to the silent figure, clasping the cross in supplication.
"Brother Jasper!"
The prior touched his hands; they were as cold as ice.
"He is dead!"
The villagers crowded round in astonishment, whispering to one another.
The monks tried to move him, but his hands, frozen to the cross, prevented them.
"He died in prayer--he was a saint!"
But a woman with a paralysed arm came near him, and in her curiosity touched his ragged cowl.... Suddenly she felt a warmth pa.s.s through her, and the dead arm began to tingle. She cried out in astonishment, and as the people turned to look she moved the fingers.
"He has restored my arm," she said. "Look!"
"A miracle!" they cried out. "A miracle! He is a saint!"