He walked in.
The superintendent, in his long alpaca house-coat, with the pattern of the cushion against which he had been reclining imprinted in red lines on his right cheek, stood at the door. He was wiping his gla.s.ses, and blinked sleepily with his shortsighted eyes.
"Pardon," he said, in a friendly tone, "I have just been taking my midday _siesta_, and have been lying on my gla.s.ses. Without them I am not quite sure with whom I have the pleasure----"
When Leo gave his name the expression of the thin mild face became a shade friendlier without losing its composure.
"This is a real honour for me, Herr von Sellenthin," he said, and invited him to sit down on the sofa covered with red flowery cretonne, which, as Leo dropped on to it, uttered a squeaking sound, and the springs of which made themselves disagreeably felt. "There are many roads which lead men to men," continued the shepherd of souls; "may I hope that the one you have come by is blessed?"
He stretched out both his hands to Leo, who seized them with grateful warmth.
"It may surprise you, Herr Superintendent----" he began.
"Pardon, dear Herr von Sellenthin, on the contrary, I might almost say, with truth, that I expected you."
"How? Expected me!" echoed Leo, astonished.
"Could there be anything more natural than that the penitent who is confiding his conscience to an unknown man, who promises him something so infinitely great, should wish to enter into closer human relations with him? Although we, as Protestants, do not recognise the inst.i.tution of a father confessor, we don"t desire to administer our healing in the lump. Each of us has his peculiarity, his prejudices, and, to come to the worst, his doubts, and it is to discuss one or other of these points, if I am not mistaken, that you have honoured me by coming here."
"You are right, Herr Superintendent," Leo replied, his confidence growing.
"And there is one more thing that I would say, my worthy friend. I do not intrude into the secrets of my brother penitents, and have no wish that they shall specify categorically the causes of their heaviness of heart, for that is difficult and awkward for both sides."
"It was not my intention to do so," said Leo.
"Capital! All the easier will it be to gain our object." And with a motion of his hand, he invited Leo to explain how his affairs stood.
"You may have heard, Herr Superintendent, that I for a long time shunned my birthplace," Leo began, involuntarily adopting, somewhat, in spite of his natural bluntness, the form of speech of the pulpit orator.
"I have certainly heard something to that effect," replied the latter, cautiously.
"For years I was knocking about in foreign countries, and gave very little thought to the salvation of my soul. I lived according to the morals and customs of my half-civilised surroundings, and saw nothing wrong in so doing."
"That can be taken for granted," the superintendent put in.
"But, now that I find myself back, and in normal circ.u.mstances, I see, with horror, the nature of the crime I am guilty of."
The superintendent made a slight inclination of the head, and stroked his shaven chin.
"That, too, is easily understood."
"Put yourself in my place. What once had seemed perfectly legitimate, and in accordance with my sense of honour, began to disturb my conscience, to torment me at night, to hunt me about by day, to render me slack in body and intellect; in fact, it has so transformed my character, that I am but the shadow of my former self."
The parson nodded contentedly, like a doctor does when the patient enumerates one after the other, symptoms of the disease which he has diagnosed beforehand.
"And for this evil you seek a remedy?" he asked.
"Yes."
"My dear friend, even in the very evil itself lies the remedy."
Leo felt the blind anger rise within him, which now so frequently overwhelmed him. This, after all, came to very much the same as Brenckenberg"s doctrine.
"Don"t frown, my dear friend, nor argue with G.o.d; but fold your hands, and praise His Holy Name for the grace which has brought you even to this condition of mind, and laid this leaven in your heart to prepare it for the blessings He will rain on you."
"What blessings?"
"The blessings of His infinite mercy. How can you even ask when you already stand on the threshold of Salvation? Like the blind man led by G.o.d"s angel, you have been wandering, you knew not whither, and while you have been thinking yourself lost you suddenly find yourself even at the door of Heaven. A hidden voice has been bidding you to the Lord"s Table, and this voice was even the voice of Divine Grace."
Defiance and suspicion fought for the mastery in Leo"s soul. The little word "even," which the man interpolated so repeatedly into his sentences, irritated him. After using it he had a habit of pausing, while he smacked his lips, so that however dulcet and consoling his words might be, it gave his delivery an air of dryness. But never for a moment did he abandon the quiet, modest, warmhearted tone with which he had wooed Leo"s confidence from the first.
"And, therefore, my dear friend, I may even promise you that to-morrow you will experience a divine miracle. The moment that the sacred chalice touches your lips the trouble you suffer from will be charmed away, and at the same time, the sin which you so earnestly repent will cease to distress you. If you had not intimated this penitence to me I could not speak with such a.s.surance, but now I may bid you welcome as a worthy guest, whose soul is clad in white garments, to G.o.d"s table."
Leo suppressed a scoffing smile. How unsuspecting and innocent it all sounded!
This worthy man, with his feet on the spotless, scrubbed boards of his house, breathing in the soothing fumes of roasted coffee-berries, tattooing his cheek every afternoon with the impress of the bead-embroidered cushion, what did he know of the depths and tortures of the h.e.l.l in which he wrestled?
And, notwithstanding, how full of promises and evangelical consolation were his p.r.o.nouncements! To hear him was like listening to a lullaby one sings to a crying infant.
A miracle was to happen! In truth, a miracle must come to pa.s.s, for in it his only chance of redemption lay. He had been on the watch for a miracle, and now one was prophesied. What more could he desire?
Meanwhile the little flaxen-haired daughter had come in from the next room, and now leaning against her father"s knee she whispered something in his ear.
He looked at the clock, smacked his dry lips, as if he were on the point of saying "even," and shook his head smiling. Then a bright idea seemed to strike him. He turned to Leo.
"It would be doing us a great honour if you would drink a cup of coffee with us quietly?"
It might have been interpreted as a slight if he had declined the invitation, and two minutes later the small daughter, biting her lips in anxiety lest she should spill anything, carried in a china tea-tray, from which the fragrance of coffee, which had hitherto faintly filled the air, streamed in full strength. A woman"s hand, with a polished wedding-ring on it, was visible for a moment at the latch of the door, but, having done its duty, was about to be withdrawn, when the superintendent said--
"Come in, dear wife, and let me present you to our distinguished guest."
A female figure, clad in black, appeared on the threshold. Spare, yet dignified; serious, yet friendly; severe, and yet kindhearted, this lady seemed admirably adapted to preside unostentatiously at Women"s Unions and Mother"s Meetings, and to take the place of honour with quiet self-possession beside the wives of the landed gentry. On her head she wore a black cap, scarcely larger than half a crown. Two wide ribbons floated over her ears to her shoulders, heightening the impression her personality made, of una.s.suming solemnity.
The superintendent introduced her to Leo. The hand she offered him was grey and bony, as a labouring woman"s, and the fingers ploughed with needle-p.r.i.c.ks. It was reported that this hand had scattered blessings for miles round.
"You are welcome, Herr von Sellenthin," she said, with a stiff bow, and then turning to her husband she added, in a low voice, "Shall I send in the honey-slabs?"
"Yes, by all means send them in," he replied, after a moment"s reflection, with the same air of friendly composure with which he had been dealing with the salvation of Leo"s soul.
The two men were again alone. The clergyman offered Leo cigars, pale yellow cigars, which smouldered slightly, and he himself lit a long pipe.
They discussed the affairs of the neighbourhood and topics of the hour in a calm, matter-of-fact way; the harvest, the increase of pauperism, and the strike in Saxony, which threatened even here to become a social evil. And thus they came to speak of the parish of Wengern.
The superintendent smiled. "Your deceased father," he said, "filled the cure there with a queer sort of fellow. To-day it wouldn"t be possible, for the law of sanction is exercised much more rigidly than it used to be. I will confess to you that more than once I have prevented a storm bursting over his head, for the consistory would be glad to have done with him. He is only saved by his orthodoxy and the strict morality he preaches. If half of his goings-on were known, he would long ago have got his dismissal."
"And you, as his superior, tolerate him?" asked Leo.
"Yes, dear Herr von Sellenthin. How shall I express it? It lies in the weakness of the human heart that a man sometimes can"t do what he ought. I believe that the pastor has eight children. I have only five.
Peter is the rock on which the Church stands, but it also has its John.