Orientations

Brother Jasper could not believe in the resurrection of the dead. And the soul--what did they mean by the soul?

IV

Then a great loneliness came over him; the hours of his life seemed endless, and there was no one in whom he could find comfort. The prior had given him a ray of hope, but he was gone, and now Jasper was alone in the world.... And beyond? Oh! how could one be certain? It was awful this perpetual doubt, recurring more strongly than ever. Men had believed so long. Think of all the beautiful churches that had been made in the honour of G.o.d, and the pictures. Think of the works that had been done for his love, the martyrs who had cheerfully given up their lives. It seemed impossible that it should be all for nothing. But--but Jasper could not believe. And he cried out to the soul of the prior, resting in heaven, to come to him and help him. Surely, if he really were alive again, he would not let the poor monk whom he had loved linger in this terrible uncertainty. Jasper redoubled his prayers; for hours he remained on his knees, imploring G.o.d to send him light.... But no light came, and exhausted Brother Jasper sank into despair.

The new prior was a tall, gaunt man, with a great hooked nose and heavy lips; his keen, dark eyes shone fiercely from beneath his s.h.a.ggy brows.

He was still young, full of pa.s.sionate energy. And with large gesture and loud, metallic voice he loved to speak of h.e.l.l-fire and the pains of the d.a.m.ned, hating the Jews and heretics with a bitter personal hatred.

"To the stake!" he used to say. "The earth must be purged of this vermin, and it must be purged by fire."

He exacted the most absolute obedience from the monks, and pitiless was the punishment for any infringement of his rules.... Brother Jasper feared the man with an almost unearthly terror; when he felt resting upon him the piercing black eyes, he trembled in his seat, and a cold sweat broke out over him. If the prior knew--the thought almost made him faint. And yet the fear of it seemed to drag him on; like a bird before a serpent, he was fascinated. Sometimes he felt sudden impulses to tell him--but the vengeful eyes terrified him.

One day he was in the cloister, looking out at the little green plot in the middle where the monks were buried, wondering confusedly whether all that prayer and effort had been offered up to empty images of what--of the fear of Man? Turning round, he started back and his heart beat, for the prior was standing close by, looking at him with those horrible eyes. Brother Jasper trembled so that he could scarcely stand; he looked down.

"Brother Jasper!" The prior"s voice seemed sterner than it had ever been before. "Brother Jasper!"

"Father!"

"What have you to tell me?"

Jasper looked up at him; the blood fled from his lips.

"Nothing, my father!" The prior looked at him firmly, and Jasper thought he read the inmost secrets of his heart.

"Speak, Brother Jasper!" said the prior, and his voice was loud and menacing.

Then hurriedly, stuttering in his anxiety, the monk confessed his misery.... A horror came over the prior"s face as he listened, and Jasper became so terrified that he could hardly speak; but the prior seemed to recover himself, and interrupted him with a furious burst of anger.

"You look over the plain and do not see G.o.d, and for that you doubt Him?

Miserable fool!"

"Oh, father, have mercy on me! I have tried so hard. I want to believe.

But I cannot."

"I cannot! I cannot! What is that? Have men believed for a thousand years--has G.o.d performed miracle after miracle--and a miserable monk dares to deny Him?"

"I cannot believe!"

"You must!" His voice was so loud that it rang through the cloisters. He seized Jasper"s clasped hands, raised in supplication before him, and forced him to his knees. "I tell you, you shall believe!"

Quivering with wrath, he looked at the prostrate form at his feet, moved by convulsive weeping. He raised his hand as if to strike the monk, but with difficulty contained himself.

Then the prior bade Brother Jasper go to the church and wait. The monks were gathered together, all astonished. They stood in their usual places, but Jasper remained in the middle, away from them, with head cast down. The prior called out to them in his loud, clear voice,--

"Pray, my brethren, pray for the soul of Brother Jasper, which lies in peril of eternal death."

The monks looked at him suddenly, and Brother Jasper"s head sank lower, so that no one could see his face. The prior sank to his knees and prayed with savage fervour. Afterwards the monks went their ways; but when Jasper pa.s.sed them they looked down, and when by chance he addressed a novice, the youth hurried from him without answering. They looked upon him as accursed. The prior spoke no more, but often Jasper felt his stern gaze resting on him, and a shiver would pa.s.s through him. In the services Jasper stood apart from the rest, like an unclean thing; he did not join in their prayers, listening confusedly to their monotonous droning; and when a pause came and he felt all eyes turn to him, he put his hands to his face to hide himself.

"Pray, my brethren, pray for the soul of Brother Jasper, which lies in peril of eternal death."

V

In his cell the monk would for days sit apathetically looking at the stone wall in front of him, sore of heart; the hours would pa.s.s by unnoticed, and only the ringing of the chapel bell awoke him from his stupor. And sometimes he would be seized with sudden pa.s.sion and, throwing himself on his knees, pour forth a stream of eager, vehement prayer. He remembered the penances which the seraphic father imposed on his flesh--but he always had faith; and Jasper would scourge himself till he felt sick and faint, and, hoping to gain his soul by mortification of the body, refuse the bread and water which was thrust into his cell, and for a long while eat nothing. He became so weak and ill that he could hardly stand; and still no help came.

Then he took it into his head that G.o.d would pity him and send a miracle to drive away his uncertainty. Was he not anxious to believe, if only he could?--so anxious! G.o.d would not send a miracle to a poor monk.... Yet miracles had been performed for smaller folk than he--for shepherds and tenders of swine. But Christ himself had said that miracles only came by faith, but--Jasper remembered that often the profligate and the harlot had been brought to repentance by a vision. Even the Holy Francis had been but a loose gallant till Christ appeared to him. Yet, if Christ had appeared, it showed--ah! but how could one be sure? it might only have been a dream. Let a vision appear to him and he would believe. Oh, how enchanted he would be to believe, to rest in peace, to know that before him, however hard the life, were eternal joy and the kingdom of heaven.

But Brother Jasper put his hands to his head cruelly aching. He could not understand, he could not know--the doubt weighed on his brain like a sheet of lead; he felt inclined to tear his skull apart to relieve the insupportable pressure. How endless life was! Why could it not finish quickly and let him know? But supposing there really was a G.o.d, He would exact terrible vengeance. What punishment would He inflict on the monk who had denied Him--who had betrayed Him like a second Judas? Then a fantastic idea came into his crazy brain. Was it Satan that put all these doubts into his head? If it were, Satan must exist; and if he did, G.o.d existed too. He knew that the devil stood ready to appear to all who called. If Christ would not appear, let Satan show himself. It meant h.e.l.l-fire; but if G.o.d were, the monk felt he was d.a.m.ned already--for the truth he would give his soul!

The idea sent a coldness through him, so that he shivered; but it possessed him, and he exulted, thinking that he would know at last. He rose from his bed--it was the dead of night and all the monks were sleeping--and, trembling with cold, began to draw with chalk strange figures on the floor. He had seen them long ago in an old book of magic, and their fantastic shapes, fascinating him, had remained in his memory.

In the centre of the strange confusion of triangles he stood and uttered in a husky voice the invocation. He murmured uncouth words in an unknown language, and bade Satan stand forth.... He expected a thunderclap, the flashing of lightning, sulphurous fumes--but the night remained silent and quiet; not a sound broke the stillness of the monastery; the snow outside fell steadily.

VI

Next day the prior sent for him and repeated his solemn question.

"Brother Jasper, what have you to say to me?"

And absolutely despairing, Jasper answered,--

"Nothing, nothing, nothing!"

Then the prior strode up to him in wrath and smote him on the cheek.

"It is a devil within you--a devil of obstinacy and pride. You shall believe!"

He cried to monks to lay hold of him; they dragged him roughly to the cloisters, and stripping him of his cowl tied it round his waist, and bound him by the hands to a pillar.... And the prior ordered them to give Jasper eight-and-thirty strokes with the scourge--one less than Christ--that the devil might be driven out. The scourge was heavy and knotted, and the porter bared his arms that he might strike the better; the monks stood round in eager expectation. The scourge whizzed through the air and came down with a thud on Jasper"s bare shoulders; a tremor pa.s.sed through him, but he did not speak. Again it came down, and as the porter raised it for the third time the monks saw great bleeding weals on Brother Jasper"s back. Then, as the scourge fell heavily, a terrible groan burst from him. The porter swung his arm, and this time a shriek broke from the wretched monk; the blows came pitilessly and Jasper lost all courage. He shrieked with agony, imploring them to stop.

But ferociously the prior cried,--

"Did Christ bear in silence forty stripes save one, and do you cry out like a woman before you have had ten!"

The porter went on, and the prior"s words were interrupted by piercing shrieks.

"It is the devil crying out within him," said the monks, gloating on the bleeding back and the face of agony.

Heavy drops of sweat ran off the porter"s face and his arm began to tire; but he seized the handle with both hands and swung the knotted ropes with all his strength.

Jasper fainted.

"See!" said the prior. "See the fate of him who has not faith in G.o.d!"

The cords with which he was tied prevented the monk from falling, and stroke after stroke fell on his back till the number was completed. Then they loosed him from the column, and he sank senseless and bleeding to the ground. They left him. Brother Jasper regained slowly his senses, lying out in the cold cloister with the snow on the graves in the middle; his hands and feet were stiff and blue. He shivered and drew himself together for warmth, then a groan burst from him, feeling the wounds of his back. Painfully he lifted himself up and crawled to the chapel door; he pushed it open, and, staggering forward, fell on his face, looking towards the altar. He remained there long, dazed and weary, pulling his cowl close round him to keep out the bitter cold.

The pain of his body almost relieved the pain of his mind; he wished dumbly that he could lie there and die, and be finished with it all. He did not know the time; he wondered whether any service would soon bring the monks to disturb him. He took sad pleasure in the solitude, and in the great church the solitude seemed more intense. Oh, and he hated the monks! it was cruel, cruel, cruel! He put his hands to his face and sobbed bitterly.

But suddenly a warmth fell on him; he looked up, and the glow seemed to come from the crucified Christ in the great painted window by the altar.