The lights in the chapel were few enough, for San Lucido was nearly the poorest monastery in Spain; a few dim candles on the altar threw long shadows on the pavement, and in the choir their yellow glare lit up uncouthly the pale faces of the monks. When Brother Jasper stood up, the taper at his back cast an unnatural light over him, like a halo, making his great black eyes shine strangely from their deep sockets, while below them the dark lines and the black shadow of his shaven chin gave him an unearthly weirdness. He looked like a living corpse standing in the brown Franciscan cowl--a dead monk doomed for some sin to wander through the earth till the day, the Day of Judgment; and in the agony of that weary face one could almost read the terrors of eternal death.
The monks recited the service with their heavy drone, and the sound of the harsh men"s voices ascended to the vault, dragging along the roof.
But Jasper heard not what they said; he rose and knelt as they did; he uttered the words; he walked out of the church in his turn, and through the cloister to his cell. And he threw himself on the floor and beat his head against the hard stones, weeping pa.s.sionately. And he cried out,--
"What shall I do? What shall I do?"
For Brother Jasper did not believe.
II
Two days before, the monk, standing amid the stunted shrubs on the hill of San Lucido, had looked out on the arid plain before him. It was all brown and grey, the desolate ground strewn with huge granite boulders, treeless; and for the wretched sheep who fed there, thin and scanty gra.s.s; the shepherd, in his tattered cloak, sat on a rock, moodily, paying no heed to his flock, dully looking at the desert round him.
Brother Jasper gazed at the scene as he had gazed for three years since he had come to San Lucido, filled with faith and great love for G.o.d. In those days he had thought nothing of the cold waste as his eyes rested on it; the light of heaven shed a wonderful glow on the scene, and when at sunset the heavy clouds were piled one above the other, like huge, fantastic mountains turned into golden fire, when he looked beyond them and saw the whole sky burning red and then a ma.s.s of yellow and gold, he could imagine that G.o.d was sitting there on His throne of fire, with Christ on His right hand in robes of light and glory, and Mary the Queen on His left. And above them the Dove with its outstretched wings, the white bird hovering in a sea of light! And it seemed so near! Brother Jasper felt in him almost the power to go there, to climb up those ma.s.sy clouds of fire and attain the great joy--the joy of the presence of G.o.d.
The sun sank slowly, the red darkened into purple, and over the whole sky came a colour of indescribable softness, while in the east, very far away, shone out the star. And soon the soft faint blue sank before the night, and the stars in the sky were countless; but still in the west there was the shadow of the sun, a misty gleam. Over the rocky plain the heavens seemed so great, so high, that Brother Jasper sank down in his insignificance; yet he remembered the glories of the sunset, and felt that he was almost at the feet of G.o.d.
But now, when he looked at the clouds and the sun behind them, he saw no G.o.d; he saw the desert plain, the barrenness of the earth, the overladen, wretched donkey staggering under his pannier, and the broad-hatted peasant urging him on. He looked at the sunset and tried to imagine the Trinity that sat there, but he saw nothing. And he asked himself,--
"Why should there be a G.o.d?"
He started up with a cry of terror, with his hands clasped to his head.
"My G.o.d! what have I done?"
He sank to his knees, humiliating himself. What vengeance would fall on him? He prayed pa.s.sionately. But again the thought came; he shrieked with terror, he invoked the Mother of G.o.d to help him.
"Why should there be a G.o.d?"
He could not help it. The thought would not leave him that all this might exist without. How did he know? How could anyone be sure, quite sure? But he drove the thoughts away, and in his cell imposed upon himself a penance. It was Satan that stood whispering in his ear, Satan lying in wait for his soul; let him deny G.o.d and he would be d.a.m.ned for ever.
He prayed with all his strength, he argued with himself, he cried out, "I believe! I believe!" but in his soul was the doubt. The terror made him tremble like a leaf in the wind, and great drops of sweat stood on his forehead and ran heavily down his cheek. He beat his head against the wall, and in his agony swayed from side to side.... But he could not believe.
III
And for two days he had endured the torments of h.e.l.l-fire, battling against himself--in vain. The heavy lines beneath his eyes grew blacker than the night, his lips were pale with agony and fasting. He had not dared to speak to anyone, he could not tell them, and in him was the impulse to shout out, "Why should there be?" Now he could bear it no longer. In the morning he went to the prior"s cell, and, falling on his knees, buried his face in the old man"s lap.
"Oh, father, help me! help me!"
The prior was old and wasted; for fifty years he had lived in the desert Castilian plain in the little monastery--all through his youth and manhood, through his age; and now he was older than anyone at San Lucido. White haired and wrinkled, but with a clear, rosy skin like a boy"s; his soft blue eyes had shone with light, but a cataract had developed, and gradually his sight had left him till he could barely see the crucifix in his cell and the fingers of his hand; at last he could only see the light. But the prior did not lose the beautiful serenity of his life; he was always happy and kind; and feeling that his death could not now be very distant, he was filled with a heavenly joy that he would shortly see the face of G.o.d. Long hours he sat in his chair looking at the light with an indescribably charming smile hovering on his lips.
His voice broken by sobs, Brother Jasper told his story, while the prior gently stroked the young man"s hands and face.
"Oh, father, make me believe!"
"One cannot force one"s faith, my dear. It comes, it goes, and no man knows the wherefore. Faith does not come from reasoning; it comes from G.o.d.... Pray for it and rest in peace."
"I want to believe so earnestly. I am so unhappy!"
"You are not the only one who has been tried, my son. Others have doubted before you and have been saved."
"But if I died to-night--I should die in mortal sin."
"Believe that G.o.d counts the attempt as worthy as the achievement."
"Oh, pray for me, father, pray for me! I cannot stand alone. Give me your strength."
"Go in peace, my son; I will pray for you, and G.o.d will give you strength!"
Jasper went away.
Day followed day, and week followed week; the spring came, and the summer; but there was no difference in the rocky desert of San Lucido.
There were no trees to bud and burst into leaf, no flowers to bloom and fade; biting winds gave way to fiery heat, the sun beat down on the plain, and the sky was cloudless, cloudless--even the nights were so hot that the monks in their cells gasped for breath. And Brother Jasper brooded over the faith that was dead; and in his self-torment his cheeks became so hollow that the bones of his face seemed about to pierce the skin, the flesh shrunk from his hands, and the fingers became long and thin, like the claws of a vulture. He used to spend long hours with the prior, while the old man talked gently, trying to bring faith to the poor monk, that his soul might rest. But one day, in the midst of the speaking, the prior stopped, and Jasper saw an expression of pain pa.s.s over his face.
"What is it?"
"Nothing, my son," he replied, smiling.... "We enter the world with pain, and with pain we leave it!"
"What do you mean? Are you ill? Father! father!"
The prior opened his mouth and showed a great sloughing sore; he put Jasper"s fingers to his neck and made him feel the enlarged and hardened glands.
"What is it? You must see a surgeon."
"No surgeon can help me, Brother Jasper. It is cancer, the Crab--it is the way that G.o.d has sent to call me to Himself."
Then the prior began to suffer the agonies of the disease, terrible pains shot through his head and neck; he could not swallow. It was a slow starvation; the torment kept him awake through night after night, and only occasionally his very exhaustion gave him a little relief so that he slept. Thinner and thinner he became, and his whole mouth was turned into a putrid, horrible sore. But yet he never murmured. Brother Jasper knelt by his bed, looking at him pitifully.
"How can you suffer it all? What have you done that G.o.d should give you this? Was it not enough that you were blind?"
"Ah, I saw such beautiful things after I became blind--all heaven appeared before me."
"It is unjust--unjust!"
"My son, all is just."
"You drive me mad!... Do you still believe in the merciful goodness of G.o.d?"
A beautiful smile broke through the pain on the old man"s face.
"I still believe in the merciful goodness of G.o.d!"
There was a silence. Brother Jasper buried his face in his hands and thought brokenheartedly of his own affliction. How happy he could be if he had that faith.... But the silence in the room was more than the silence of people who did not speak. Jasper looked up suddenly.
The prior was dead.
Then the monk bent over the body and looked at the face into the opaque white eyes; there was no difference, the flesh was warm--everything was just the same, and yet ... and yet he was dead. What did they mean by saying the soul had fled? What had happened? Jasper understood nothing of it. And afterwards, before the funeral, when he looked at the corpse again, and it was cold and a horrible blackness stained the lips, he felt sure.