We all wondered. Next day in school we agreed to Jerry Cowan"s terms, and Jerry promised to bring the picture up to Uncle Alec"s the following afternoon.
We were all intensely excited Sat.u.r.day morning. To our dismay, it began to rain just before dinner.
"What if Jerry doesn"t bring the picture to-day because of the rain?" I suggested.
"Never you fear," answered Felicity decidedly. "A Cowan would come through ANYTHING for fifty cents."
After dinner we all, without any verbal decision about it, washed our faces and combed our hair. The girls put on their second best dresses, and we boys donned white collars. We all had the unuttered feeling that we must do such honour to that Picture as we could. Felicity and Dan began a small spat over something, but stopped at once when Cecily said severely,
"How DARE you quarrel when you are going to look at a picture of G.o.d to-day?"
Owing to the rain we could not foregather in the orchard, where we had meant to transact the business with Jerry. We did not wish our grown-ups around at our great moment, so we betook ourselves to the loft of the granary in the spruce wood, from whose window we could see the main road and hail Jerry. Sara Ray had joined us, very pale and nervous, having had, so it appeared, a difference of opinion with her mother about coming up the hill in the rain.
"I"m afraid I did very wrong to come against ma"s will," she said miserably, "but I COULDN"T wait. I wanted to see the picture as soon as you did."
We waited and watched at the window. The valley was full of mist, and the rain was coming down in slanting lines over the tops of the spruces.
But as we waited the clouds broke away and the sun came out flashingly; the drops on the spruce boughs glittered like diamonds.
"I don"t believe Jerry can be coming," said Cecily in despair. "I suppose his mother must have thought it was dreadful, after all, to sell such a picture."
"There he is now!" cried Dan, waving excitedly from the window.
"He"s carrying a fish-basket," said Felicity. "You surely don"t suppose he would bring THAT picture in a fish-basket!"
Jerry HAD brought it in a fish-basket, as appeared when he mounted the granary stairs shortly afterwards. It was folded up in a newspaper packet on top of the dried herring with which the basket was filled. We paid him his money, but we would not open the packet until he had gone.
"Cecily," said Felicity in a hushed tone. "You are the best of us all.
YOU open the parcel."
"Oh, I"m no gooder than the rest of you," breathed Cecily, "but I"ll open it if you like."
With trembling fingers Cecily opened the parcel. We stood around, hardly breathing. She unfolded it and held it up. We saw it.
Suddenly Sara began to cry.
"Oh, oh, oh, does G.o.d look like THAT?" she wailed.
Felix and I spoke not. Disappointment, and something worse, sealed our speech. DID G.o.d look like that--like that stern, angrily frowning old man with the tossing hair and beard of the wood-cut Cecily held.
"I suppose He must, since that is His picture," said Dan miserably.
"He looks awful cross," said Peter simply.
"Oh, I wish we"d never, never seen it," cried Cecily.
We all wished that--too late. Our curiosity had led us into some Holy of Holies, not to be profaned by human eyes, and this was our punishment.
"I"ve always had a feeling right along," wept Sara, "that it wasn"t RIGHT to buy--or LOOK AT--G.o.d"s picture."
As we stood there wretchedly we heard flying feet below and a blithe voice calling,
"Where are you, children?"
The Story Girl had returned! At any other moment we would have rushed to meet her in wild joy. But now we were too crushed and miserable to move.
"Whatever is the matter with you all?" demanded the Story Girl, appearing at the top of the stairs. "What is Sara crying about? What have you got there?"
"A picture of G.o.d," said Cecily with a sob in her voice, "and oh, it is so dreadful and ugly. Look!"
The Story Girl looked. An expression of scorn came over her face.
"Surely you don"t believe G.o.d looks like that," she said impatiently, while her fine eyes flashed. "He doesn"t--He couldn"t. He is wonderful and beautiful. I"m surprised at you. THAT is nothing but the picture of a cross old man."
Hope sprang up in our hearts, although we were not wholly convinced.
"I don"t know," said Dan dubiously. "It says under the picture "G.o.d in the Garden of Eden." It"s PRINTED."
"Well, I suppose that"s what the man who drew it thought G.o.d was like,"
answered the Story Girl carelessly. "But HE couldn"t have known any more than you do. HE had never seen Him."
"It"s all very well for you to say so," said Felicity, "but YOU don"t know either. I wish I could believe that isn"t like G.o.d--but I don"t know what to believe."
"Well, if you won"t believe me, I suppose you"ll believe the minister,"
said the Story Girl. "Go and ask him. He"s in the house this very minute. He came up with us in the buggy."
At any other time we would never have dared catechize the minister about anything. But desperate cases call for desperate measures. We drew straws to see who should go and do the asking, and the lot fell to Felix.
"Better wait until Mr. Marwood leaves, and catch him in the lane,"
advised the Story Girl. "You"ll have a lot of grown-ups around you in the house."
Felix took her advice. Mr. Marwood, presently walking benignantly along the lane, was confronted by a fat, small boy with a pale face but resolute eyes.
The rest of us remained in the background but within hearing.
"Well, Felix, what is it?" asked Mr. Marwood kindly.
"Please, sir, does G.o.d really look like this?" asked Felix, holding out the picture. "We hope He doesn"t--but we want to know the truth, and that is why I"m bothering you. Please excuse us and tell me."
The minister looked at the picture. A stern expression came into his gentle blue eyes and he got as near to frowning as it was possible for him to get.
"Where did you get that thing?" he asked.
THING! We began to breathe easier.
"We bought it from Jerry Cowan. He found it in a red-covered history of the world. It SAYS it"s G.o.d"s picture," said Felix.
"It is nothing of the sort," said Mr. Marwood indignantly. "There is no such thing as a picture of G.o.d, Felix. No human being knows what he looks like--no human being CAN know. We should not even try to think what He looks like. But, Felix, you may be sure that G.o.d is infinitely more beautiful and loving and tender and kind than anything we can imagine of Him. Never believe anything else, my boy. As for this--this SACRILEGE--take it and burn it."