Religious communities -- Fiction; West (U.S.) -- Fiction
“Do not be afraid,” he said. “I will find out what sort of a ghost has
frightened Mother Kaufmann.” He walked towards the place, where what
appeared to be a headless form wrapped in a sheet was moving back and
forth. When he came near to it he saw that it was a most substantial
substance, for Hans Peter had borrowed a white rubber blanket, through
which he had thrust his head, and thus improvised a most serviceable
rain-coat.
“What are you doing here?” Everett asked, in an angry tone of voice. “Do
you know that you have scared one of the colony women?”
“Thou hast no concern in what my errand may be,” said the simple one,
gathering his rubber blanket around him and calmly seating himself upon
the nearest gravestone. “If Mother Kaufmann had been scared to death
there is none in Zanah who would have wept upon her bier.”
“You had better go back to the village,” Everett advised, as he with
difficulty restrained a laugh.
“Nay, it is thou who hast no occasion to linger near the cemetery,” the
simple one replied. “I have come to wait for Walda Kellar.”
Another gust of wind, even stronger than the preceding one, carried
Everett’s hat away, and while he searched for it in the dark a tree was
uprooted. It fell with a crash that came from the direction of Marta
Bachmann’s grave, towards which Everett ran in a frenzy of fear lest
Walda had been injured.
“Stephen, Stephen,” he heard her call. She took a few steps towards him,
and in a moment his arms were around her.
“You are not hurt, are you?” he said, putting his right hand upon her
head, and drawing it close to him until it rested on his shoulder. He
felt her tremble, and he said:
“You are quite safe now. I will take you home.”
The simple one had come near. Without glancing towards Stephen and
Walda, he went to Marta Bachmann’s grave, and, climbing over the
branches of the fallen tree, began to search for something. Everett
gently put Walda away from him lest the simple one should notice them.
Then, taking her by the hand, he led her through the hedge and along the
road until they came to the open place by the lake.
“Stephen, I have shown a grievous weakness and lack of faith,” said
Walda, catching her breath, and drawing her hand from his. “The
prophetess of Zanah should not know fear, and yet I felt a strength and
comfort in thine aid that my prayers have never given me.”
Walda raised her face to him, and again he put his arms around her.
“Walda, I mean to take care of you always,” he said. “I shall never let
you go. Cannot you understand that it is meant you should belong to me?”
He kissed her on the lips, and, abashed and trembling, she drew away
from him.
“Stephen, thou dost betray my trust in thee. Why wouldst thou profane
the lips of a prophetess of Zanah?” she cried. She put her hands over
her heart, as if to still its wild beating, and her eyes were wide with
fear and astonishment.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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