He nodded. He was not sorry to hear something about this boy, whom he didn"t like at all, but for whom he knew himself at least partly responsible. The English were bad enough, but English converts were indescribably trying; and Laurie had been on his mind lately, he scarcely knew why.
Then Maggie began at the beginning, and told the whole thing, from Amy"s death down to Mr. Morton"s letter. He put a question or two to her during her story, looking at her with pressed lips, and finally put out his hand for the letter itself.
"Mrs. Baxter doesn"t know what I"ve come about," said the girl. "You won"t give her a hint, will you, father?"
He nodded rea.s.suringly to her, absorbed in the letter, and presently handed it back, with a large smile.
"He seems a sensible fellow," he said.
"Ah! that"s what I wanted to ask you, father. I don"t know anything at all about spiritualism. Is it--is it really all nonsense? Is there nothing in it at all?"
He laughed aloud.
"I don"t think you need be afraid," he said. "Of course we know that souls don"t come back like that. They"re somewhere else."
"Then it"s all fraud?"
"It"s practically all fraud," he said, "but it"s very superst.i.tious, and is forbidden by the Church."
This was straight enough. It was at least a clear issue to begin to attack Laurie upon.
"Then--then that"s the evil of it?" she said. "There"s no real power underneath? That"s what Mr. Rymer said to Mrs. Baxter; and it"s what I"ve always thought myself."
The priest"s face became theological.
"Let"s see what Sabetti says," he said. "I fancy--"
He turned in his chair and fetched out a volume behind him.
"Here we are...."
He ran his finger down the heavy paragraphs, turned a page or two, and began a running comment and translation: ""_Necromantia ex_"....
"Necromancy arising from invocation of the dead".... Let"s see ...
yes, "Spiritism, or the consulting of spirits in order to know hidden things, especially that pertain to the future life, certainly is divination properly so called, and is ... is full of even more impiety than is magnetism, or the use of turning tables. The reason is, as the Baltimore fathers testify, that such knowledge must necessarily be ascribed to Satanic intervention, since in no other manner can it be explained.""
"Then--" began Maggie.
"One moment, my child.... Yes ... just so. "Express divination"....
No, no. Ah! here we are, "Tacit divination, ... even if it is openly protested that no commerce with the Demon is intended, is _per se_ grave sin; but it can sometimes be excused from mortal sin, on account of simplicity or ignorance or a lack of certain faith." You see, my child--" he set the book back in its place "--so far as it"s not fraud it"s diabolical. And that"s an end of it."
"But do you think it"s not all fraud, then?" asked the girl, paling a little.
He laughed again, with a resonance that warmed her heart.
"I should pay just no attention to it all. Tell him, if you like, what I"ve said, and that it"s grave sin for him to play with it; but don"t get thinking that the devil"s in everything."
Maggie was puzzled.
"Then it"s not the devil?" she asked--"at least not in this case, you think?"
He smiled again rea.s.suringly.
"I should suspect it was a clever trick," he said. "I don"t think Master Laurie"s likely to get mixed up with the devil in that way.
There"s plenty of easier ways than that."
"Do you think I should write to Mr. Cathcart?"
"Just as you like. He"s a convert, isn"t he? I believe I"ve heard his name."
"I think so."
"Well, it wouldn"t do any harm; though I should suspect not much good."
Maggie was silent.
"Just tell Master Laurie not to play tricks," said the priest. "He"s got a good, sensible friend in Mr. Morton. I can see that. And don"t trouble your head too much about it, my child."
When Maggie was gone, he went out to finish his cigar, and found to his pleasure that it was still alight, and after a puff or two it went very well.
He thought about his interview for a few minutes as he walked up and down, taking the bright winter air. It explained a good deal. He had begun to be a little anxious about this boy. It was not that Laurie had actually neglected his religion while at Stantons; he was always in his place at ma.s.s on Sundays, and even, very occasionally, on weekdays as well. And he had had a ma.s.s said for Amy Nugent. But even as far back as the beginning of the previous year, there had been an air about him not altogether rea.s.suring.
Well, this at any rate was a small commentary on the present situation.... (The priest stopped to look at some bulbs that were coming up in the bed beside him, and stooped, breathing heavily, to smooth the earth round one of them with a large finger.)... And as for this Spiritualistic nonsense--of course the whole thing was a trick.
Things did not happen like that. Of course the devil could do extraordinary things: or at any rate had been able to do them in the past; but as for Master Laurie Baxter--whose home was down there in the hamlet, and who had been at Oxford and was now reading law--as for the thought that this rather superior Saxon young man was in direct communication with Satan at the present time--well, that needed no comment but loud laughter.
Yet it was very unwholesome and unhealthy. That was the worst of these converts; they could not be content with the sober workaday facts of the Catholic creed. They must be always running after some novelty or other.... And it was mortal sin anyhow, if the sinner had the faintest idea--
A large dinner-bell pealed from the back door; and the priest went in to roast beef with Yorkshire pudding, apple dumplings, and a single gla.s.s of port-wine to end up with.
III
It was strange how Maggie felt steadied and encouraged in the presence of something at least resembling danger. So long as Laurie was merely tiresome and foolish, she distrusted herself, she made little rules and resolutions, and deliberately kept herself interiorly detached from him. But now that there was something definite to look to, her sensitiveness vanished.
As to what that something was, she did not trust herself to decide.
Father Mahon had given her a point to work at--the fact that the thing, as a serious pursuit, was forbidden; as to what the reality behind was, whether indeed there were any reality at all, she did not allow herself to consider. Laurie was in a state of nerves sufficiently troublesome to bring a letter from his friend and guide; and he was in that state through playing tricks on forbidden ground; that was enough.
Her interview with Father Mahon precipitated her half-formed resolution; and after tea she went upstairs to write to Mr. Cathcart.
It was an unconventional thing to do, but she was sufficiently perturbed to disregard that drawback, and she wrote a very sensible letter, explaining first who she was; then, without any names being mentioned, she described her adopted brother"s position, and indicated his experiences: she occupied the last page in asking two or three questions, and begging for general advice.
Mrs. Baxter displayed some symptoms after dinner which the girl recognized well enough. They comprised a resolute avoidance of Laurie"s name, a funny stiff little air of dignity, and a touch of patronage. And the interpretation of these things was that the old lady did not wish the subject to be mentioned again, and that, interiorly, she was doing her best ignore and forget it. Maggie felt, again, vaguely comforted; it left her a freer hand.