“As they spoke, a soft knock was heard, such as kindness gives at the
door of misfortune, and Everhard started up to answer it. “Stay,” said
Walberg, absently, “Where are the servants?” Then recollecting himself,
he smiled agonizingly, and waved his hand to his son to go. It was the
good priest. He entered, and sat down in silence,--no one spoke to him.
It might be truly said, as it is sublimely said in the original, “There
was neither speech nor language, but voices were heard among them--_and
felt too_.” The worthy priest piqued himself on his orthodoxy of all
matters of belief and form enjoined by the Catholic church; and,
moreover, had acquired a kind of monastic apathy, of sanctified
stoicism, which priests sometimes imagine is the conquest of grace over
the rebellion of nature, when it is merely the result of a profession
that denies nature its objects and its ties. Yet so it was, that as he
sat among this afflicted family, after complaining of the keenness of
the morning air, and wiping away in vain the moisture, which he said it
had brought into his eyes, he at last yielded to his feelings, and
“lifted up his voice and wept.” But tears were not all he had to offer.
On hearing the plans of Walberg and his family, he promised, with a
faultering voice, his ready assistance in promoting them; and, as he
rose to depart, observing that he had been entrusted by the faithful
with a small sum for the relief of the unfortunate, and knew not where
it could be better bestowed, he dropped from the sleeve of his habit a
well filled purse on the floor, and hurried away.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account