"What do you mean?" he finally stammered with trembling lips. "Listen, Johannes," said Countess Dolores. "Father Canisius is very wise--a man of large experience in life." "Do you believe in God, Johannes?" asked the priest. "I know that I have a Father who understands me," said Johannes, slowly. "Do you mean a heavenly Father? Very well; so far, so good. But you must have observed also that there is an evil one--Satan--who goes about deceiving us." "Yes," said Johannes, promptly, thinking of his many disappointments. "That is so. I have observed it." "Well, then, Satan is always lying in wait for us, like a wolf lurking near the sheep. One who trusts only in his own powers and his own opinion is like a sheep that strays from the fold. The wolf surely waits his opportunity, and, unless God perform a miracle, that sheep is lost." Johannes felt the fear strike to his heart, and he could not speak. "We first notice the approach of this wolf by a terrible sensation. That is God's warning to us. That feeling is doubt. Have you ever known what it was to doubt, Johannes?" Johannes, with clenched fists and compressed lips, nodded in quick and utter dismay. Yes, yes, _yes_! He had known what it was to doubt. "I thought so," said Father Canisius, calmly. "It is a fearful feeling, is it not?" Raising his voice, he proceeded: "It is like the sound of howling wolves in the distance--to the wandering sheep. Let it not be in vain that you are warned, Johannes." After a pause he continued: "Doubt itself is a sin. He who doubts is on an inclined plane that slopes toward a fall. Have you ever heard of the hideous octopus, Johannes--that soft sea-monster with the huge eyes, and eight long arms full of suckers which, one by one, he winds around the limbs of a swimmer, before dragging him down to the deeps? You have? Well, Satan is such an octopus. Unnoticed, he reaches out his long arms, and twines them about your limbs--holding them fast with his suckers until he can stab his sharp beak into your heart. Doubt is not only a warning but positive proof that Satan has already gripped you. It is the beginning of his power. The end is everlasting pain and damnation." Johannes raised his head and looked at the priest, who was watching the effect of his words. In spite of his distress there was suddenly aroused in Johannes a feeling of resistance. He felt that an effort was being made to frighten him; and even if he was but a stripling he would not allow that. "My Father does not condemn those who err in good faith," said he. Father Canisius observed that by bearing on too hard he had awakened a rebellious spirit. He therefore became more cautious, and resumed gently: