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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1faf23d --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #50109 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/50109) diff --git a/old/50109-0.txt b/old/50109-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index d8a8046..0000000 --- a/old/50109-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,4357 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mysterious Stranger, by Mark Twain - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - -Title: The Mysterious Stranger - A Romance - -Author: Mark Twain - -Illustrator: N. C. Wyeth - -Release Date: October 1, 2015 [EBook #50109] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGER *** - - - - -Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images -generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian -Libraries) - - - - - - - - - -THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGER - - - - -[Illustration: ESELDORF WAS A PARADISE FOR US BOYS] - - - - -THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGER - - A ROMANCE - - BY - MARK TWAIN - - WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY - N. C. WYETH - - [Illustration] - - HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS - NEW YORK AND LONDON - - - - - THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGER - - Copyright, 1916, by Harper & Brothers - Printed in the United States of America - Published October, 1916 - - - - -ILLUSTRATIONS - - - ESELDORF WAS A PARADISE FOR US BOYS _Frontispiece_ - - THE LIGHTNING BLAZED OUT FLASH UPON FLASH AND SET - THE CASTLE ON FIRE _Facing p._ 20 - - ON THE FOURTH DAY COMES THE ASTROLOGER FROM HIS - CRUMBLING OLD TOWER “ 38 - - MARGET WAS CHEERFUL BY HELP OF WILHELM MEIDLING “ 60 - - THE ASTROLOGER EMPTIED THE WHOLE OF THE BOWL INTO - THE BOTTLE “ 74 - - THERE WAS A SOUND OF TRAMPING OUTSIDE AND THE CROWD - CAME SOLEMNLY IN “ 108 - - “LIFE ITSELF IS ONLY A VISION, A DREAM” “ 148 - - - - -THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGER - -CHAPTER I - - -It was in 1590--winter. Austria was far away from the world, and -asleep; it was still the Middle Ages in Austria, and promised to remain -so forever. Some even set it away back centuries upon centuries and -said that by the mental and spiritual clock it was still the Age of -Belief in Austria. But they meant it as a compliment, not a slur, and -it was so taken, and we were all proud of it. I remember it well, -although I was only a boy; and I remember, too, the pleasure it gave me. - -Yes, Austria was far from the world, and asleep, and our village was in -the middle of that sleep, being in the middle of Austria. It drowsed -in peace in the deep privacy of a hilly and woodsy solitude where -news from the world hardly ever came to disturb its dreams, and was -infinitely content. At its front flowed the tranquil river, its surface -painted with cloud-forms and the reflections of drifting arks and -stone-boats; behind it rose the woody steeps to the base of the lofty -precipice; from the top of the precipice frowned a vast castle, its -long stretch of towers and bastions mailed in vines; beyond the river, -a league to the left, was a tumbled expanse of forest-clothed hills -cloven by winding gorges where the sun never penetrated; and to the -right a precipice overlooked the river, and between it and the hills -just spoken of lay a far-reaching plain dotted with little homesteads -nested among orchards and shade trees. - -The whole region for leagues around was the hereditary property of a -prince, whose servants kept the castle always in perfect condition for -occupancy, but neither he nor his family came there oftener than once -in five years. When they came it was as if the lord of the world had -arrived, and had brought all the glories of its kingdoms along; and -when they went they left a calm behind which was like the deep sleep -which follows an orgy. - -Eseldorf was a paradise for us boys. We were not overmuch pestered with -schooling. Mainly we were trained to be good Christians; to revere -the Virgin, the Church, and the saints above everything. Beyond these -matters we were not required to know much; and, in fact, not allowed -to. Knowledge was not good for the common people, and could make them -discontented with the lot which God had appointed for them, and God -would not endure discontentment with His plans. We had two priests. One -of them, Father Adolf, was a very zealous and strenuous priest, much -considered. - -There may have been better priests, in some ways, than Father Adolf, -but there was never one in our commune who was held in more solemn -and awful respect. This was because he had absolutely no fear of the -Devil. He was the only Christian I have ever known of whom that could -be truly said. People stood in deep dread of him on that account; for -they thought that there must be something supernatural about him, else -he could not be so bold and so confident. All men speak in bitter -disapproval of the Devil, but they do it reverently, not flippantly; -but Father Adolf’s way was very different; he called him by every name -he could lay his tongue to, and it made every one shudder that heard -him; and often he would even speak of him scornfully and scoffingly; -then the people crossed themselves and went quickly out of his -presence, fearing that something fearful might happen. - -Father Adolf had actually met Satan face to face more than once, and -defied him. This was known to be so. Father Adolf said it himself. He -never made any secret of it, but spoke it right out. And that he was -speaking true there was proof in at least one instance, for on that -occasion he quarreled with the enemy, and intrepidly threw his bottle -at him; and there, upon the wall of his study, was the ruddy splotch -where it struck and broke. - -But it was Father Peter, the other priest, that we all loved best and -were sorriest for. Some people charged him with talking around in -conversation that God was all goodness and would find a way to save all -his poor human children. It was a horrible thing to say, but there was -never any absolute proof that Father Peter said it; and it was out of -character for him to say it, too, for he was always good and gentle and -truthful. He wasn’t charged with saying it in the pulpit, where all the -congregation could hear and testify, but only outside, in talk; and it -is easy for enemies to manufacture _that_. Father Peter had an enemy -and a very powerful one, the astrologer who lived in a tumbled old -tower up the valley, and put in his nights studying the stars. Every -one knew he could foretell wars and famines, though that was not so -hard, for there was always a war and generally a famine somewhere. But -he could also read any man’s life through the stars in a big book he -had, and find lost property, and every one in the village except Father -Peter stood in awe of him. Even Father Adolf, who had defied the Devil, -had a wholesome respect for the astrologer when he came through our -village wearing his tall, pointed hat and his long, flowing robe with -stars on it, carrying his big book, and a staff which was known to have -magic power. The bishop himself sometimes listened to the astrologer, -it was said, for, besides studying the stars and prophesying, the -astrologer made a great show of piety, which would impress the bishop, -of course. - -But Father Peter took no stock in the astrologer. He denounced him -openly as a charlatan--a fraud with no valuable knowledge of any kind, -or powers beyond those of an ordinary and rather inferior human being, -which naturally made the astrologer hate Father Peter and wish to -ruin him. It was the astrologer, as we all believed, who originated -the story about Father Peter’s shocking remark and carried it to the -bishop. It was said that Father Peter had made the remark to his niece, -Marget, though Marget denied it and implored the bishop to believe -her and spare her old uncle from poverty and disgrace. But the bishop -wouldn’t listen. He suspended Father Peter indefinitely, though he -wouldn’t go so far as to excommunicate him on the evidence of only one -witness; and now Father Peter had been out a couple of years, and our -other priest, Father Adolf, had his flock. - -Those had been hard years for the old priest and Marget. They had been -favorites, but of course that changed when they came under the shadow -of the bishop’s frown. Many of their friends fell away entirely, and -the rest became cool and distant. Marget was a lovely girl of eighteen -when the trouble came, and she had the best head in the village, and -the most in it. She taught the harp, and earned all her clothes and -pocket money by her own industry. But her scholars fell off one by one -now; she was forgotten when there were dances and parties among the -youth of the village; the young fellows stopped coming to the house, -all except Wilhelm Meidling--and he could have been spared; she and -her uncle were sad and forlorn in their neglect and disgrace, and the -sunshine was gone out of their lives. Matters went worse and worse, all -through the two years. Clothes were wearing out, bread was harder and -harder to get. And now, at last, the very end was come. Solomon Isaacs -had lent all the money he was willing to put on the house, and gave -notice that to-morrow he would foreclose. - - - - -CHAPTER II - - -Three of us boys were always together, and had been so from the cradle, -being fond of one another from the beginning, and this affection -deepened as the years went on--Nikolaus Bauman, son of the principal -judge of the local court; Seppi Wohlmeyer, son of the keeper of the -principal inn, the “Golden Stag,” which had a nice garden, with shade -trees reaching down to the riverside, and pleasure boats for hire; and -I was the third--Theodor Fischer, son of the church organist, who was -also leader of the village musicians, teacher of the violin, composer, -tax-collector of the commune, sexton, and in other ways a useful -citizen, and respected by all. We knew the hills and the woods as well -as the birds knew them; for we were always roaming them when we had -leisure--at least, when we were not swimming or boating or fishing, or -playing on the ice or sliding down hill. - -And we had the run of the castle park, and very few had that. It was -because we were pets of the oldest serving-man in the castle--Felix -Brandt; and often we went there, nights, to hear him talk about old -times and strange things, and to smoke with him (he taught us that) -and to drink coffee; for he had served in the wars, and was at the -siege of Vienna; and there, when the Turks were defeated and driven -away, among the captured things were bags of coffee, and the Turkish -prisoners explained the character of it and how to make a pleasant -drink out of it, and now he always kept coffee by him, to drink himself -and also to astonish the ignorant with. When it stormed he kept us -all night; and while it thundered and lightened outside he told us -about ghosts and horrors of every kind, and of battles and murders and -mutilations, and such things, and made it pleasant and cozy inside; and -he told these things from his own experience largely. He had seen many -ghosts in his time, and witches and enchanters, and once he was lost in -a fierce storm at midnight in the mountains, and by the glare of the -lightning had seen the Wild Huntsman rage on the blast with his specter -dogs chasing after him through the driving cloud-rack. Also he had seen -an incubus once, and several times he had seen the great bat that sucks -the blood from the necks of people while they are asleep, fanning them -softly with its wings and so keeping them drowsy till they die. - -He encouraged us not to fear supernatural things, such as ghosts, and -said they did no harm, but only wandered about because they were lonely -and distressed and wanted kindly notice and compassion; and in time we -learned not to be afraid, and even went down with him in the night to -the haunted chamber in the dungeons of the castle. The ghost appeared -only once, and it went by very dim to the sight and floated noiseless -through the air, and then disappeared; and we scarcely trembled, he had -taught us so well. He said it came up sometimes in the night and woke -him by passing its clammy hand over his face, but it did him no hurt; -it only wanted sympathy and notice. But the strangest thing was that he -had seen angels--actual angels out of heaven--and had talked with them. -They had no wings, and wore clothes, and talked and looked and acted -just like any natural person, and you would never know them for angels -except for the wonderful things they did which a mortal could not do, -and the way they suddenly disappeared while you were talking with them, -which was also a thing which no mortal could do. And he said they were -pleasant and cheerful, not gloomy and melancholy, like ghosts. - -It was after that kind of a talk one May night that we got up next -morning and had a good breakfast with him and then went down and -crossed the bridge and went away up into the hills on the left to -a woody hill-top which was a favorite place of ours, and there we -stretched out on the grass in the shade to rest and smoke and talk over -these strange things, for they were in our minds yet, and impressing -us. But we couldn’t smoke, because we had been heedless and left our -flint and steel behind. - -Soon there came a youth strolling toward us through the trees, and he -sat down and began to talk in a friendly way, just as if he knew us. -But we did not answer him, for he was a stranger and we were not used -to strangers and were shy of them. He had new and good clothes on, and -was handsome and had a winning face and a pleasant voice, and was easy -and graceful and unembarrassed, not slouchy and awkward and diffident, -like other boys. We wanted to be friendly with him, but didn’t know how -to begin. Then I thought of the pipe, and wondered if it would be taken -as kindly meant if I offered it to him. But I remembered that we had -no fire, so I was sorry and disappointed. But he looked up bright and -pleased, and said: - -“Fire? Oh, that is easy; I will furnish it.” - -I was so astonished I couldn’t speak; for I had not said anything. -He took the pipe and blew his breath on it, and the tobacco glowed -red, and spirals of blue smoke rose up. We jumped up and were going -to run, for that was natural; and we did run a few steps, although -he was yearningly pleading for us to stay, and giving us his word -that he would not do us any harm, but only wanted to be friends with -us and have company. So we stopped and stood, and wanted to go back, -being full of curiosity and wonder, but afraid to venture. He went on -coaxing, in his soft, persuasive way; and when we saw that the pipe did -not blow up and nothing happened, our confidence returned by little and -little, and presently our curiosity got to be stronger than our fear, -and we ventured back--but slowly, and ready to fly at any alarm. - -He was bent on putting us at ease, and he had the right art; one could -not remain doubtful and timorous where a person was so earnest and -simple and gentle, and talked so alluringly as he did; no, he won us -over, and it was not long before we were content and comfortable and -chatty, and glad we had found this new friend. When the feeling of -constraint was all gone we asked him how he had learned to do that -strange thing, and he said he hadn’t learned it at all; it came natural -to him--like other things--other curious things. - -“What ones?” - -“Oh, a number; I don’t know how many.” - -“Will you let us see you do them?” - -“Do--please!” the others said. - -“You won’t run away again?” - -“No--indeed we won’t. Please do. Won’t you?” - -“Yes, with pleasure; but you mustn’t forget your promise, you know.” - -We said we wouldn’t, and he went to a puddle and came back with water -in a cup which he had made out of a leaf, and blew upon it and -threw it out, and it was a lump of ice the shape of the cup. We were -astonished and charmed, but not afraid any more; we were very glad to -be there, and asked him to go on and do some more things. And he did. -He said he would give us any kind of fruit we liked, whether it was in -season or not. We all spoke at once: - -“Orange!” - -“Apple!” - -“Grapes!” - -“They are in your pockets,” he said, and it was true. And they were of -the best, too, and we ate them and wished we had more, though none of -us said so. - -“You will find them where those came from,” he said, “and everything -else your appetites call for; and you need not name the thing you wish; -as long as I am with you, you have only to wish and find.” - -And he said true. There was never anything so wonderful and so -interesting. Bread, cakes, sweets, nuts--whatever one wanted, it was -there. He ate nothing himself, but sat and chatted, and did one curious -thing after another to amuse us. He made a tiny toy squirrel out of -clay, and it ran up a tree and sat on a limb overhead and barked down -at us. Then he made a dog that was not much larger than a mouse, and it -treed the squirrel and danced about the tree, excited and barking, and -was as alive as any dog could be. It frightened the squirrel from tree -to tree and followed it up until both were out of sight in the forest. -He made birds out of clay and set them free, and they flew away, -singing. - -At last I made bold to ask him to tell us who he was. - -“An angel,” he said, quite simply, and set another bird free and -clapped his hands and made it fly away. - -A kind of awe fell upon us when we heard him say that, and we were -afraid again; but he said we need not be troubled, there was no -occasion for us to be afraid of an angel, and he liked us, anyway. -He went on chatting as simply and unaffectedly as ever; and while he -talked he made a crowd of little men and women the size of your finger, -and they went diligently to work and cleared and leveled off a space -a couple of yards square in the grass and began to build a cunning -little castle in it, the women mixing the mortar and carrying it up -the scaffoldings in pails on their heads, just as our work-women have -always done, and the men laying the courses of masonry--five hundred -of these toy people swarming briskly about and working diligently and -wiping the sweat off their faces as natural as life. In the absorbing -interest of watching those five hundred little people make the castle -grow step by step and course by course, and take shape and symmetry, -that feeling and awe soon passed away and we were quite comfortable and -at home again. We asked if we might make some people, and he said yes, -and told Seppi to make some cannon for the walls, and told Nikolaus to -make some halberdiers, with breastplates and greaves and helmets, and -I was to make some cavalry, with horses, and in allotting these tasks -he called us by our names, but did not say how he knew them. Then Seppi -asked him what his own name was, and he said, tranquilly, “Satan,” and -held out a chip and caught a little woman on it who was falling from -the scaffolding and put her back where she belonged, and said, “She is -an idiot to step backward like that and not notice what she is about.” - -It caught us suddenly, that name did, and our work dropped out of our -hands and broke to pieces--a cannon, a halberdier, and a horse. Satan -laughed, and asked what was the matter. I said, “Nothing, only it -seemed a strange name for an angel.” He asked why. - -“Because it’s--it’s--well, it’s his name, you know.” - -“Yes--he is my uncle.” - -He said it placidly, but it took our breath for a moment and made our -hearts beat. He did not seem to notice that, but mended our halberdiers -and things with a touch, handing them to us finished, and said, “Don’t -you remember?--he was an angel himself, once.” - -“Yes--it’s true,” said Seppi; “I didn’t think of that.” - -“Before the Fall he was blameless.” - -“Yes,” said Nikolaus, “he was without sin.” - -“It is a good family--ours,” said Satan; “there is not a better. He is -the only member of it that has ever sinned.” - -I should not be able to make any one understand how exciting it all -was. You know that kind of quiver that trembles around through you when -you are seeing something so strange and enchanting and wonderful that -it is just a fearful joy to be alive and look at it; and you know how -you gaze, and your lips turn dry and your breath comes short, but you -wouldn’t be anywhere but there, not for the world. I was bursting to -ask one question--I had it on my tongue’s end and could hardly hold it -back--but I was ashamed to ask it; it might be a rudeness. Satan set an -ox down that he had been making, and smiled up at me and said: - -“It wouldn’t be a rudeness, and I should forgive it if it was. Have I -seen him? Millions of times. From the time that I was a little child a -thousand years old I was his second favorite among the nursery angels -of our blood and lineage--to use a human phrase--yes, from that time -until the Fall, eight thousand years, measured as you count time.” - -“Eight--thousand!” - -“Yes.” He turned to Seppi, and went on as if answering something that -was in Seppi’s mind: “Why, naturally I look like a boy, for that -is what I am. With us what you call time is a spacious thing; it -takes a long stretch of it to grow an angel to full age.” There was -a question in my mind, and he turned to me and answered it, “I am -sixteen thousand years old--counting as you count.” Then he turned to -Nikolaus and said: “No, the Fall did not affect me nor the rest of the -relationship. It was only he that I was named for who ate of the fruit -of the tree and then beguiled the man and the woman with it. We others -are still ignorant of sin; we are not able to commit it; we are without -blemish, and shall abide in that estate always. We--” Two of the little -workmen were quarreling, and in buzzing little bumblebee voices they -were cursing and swearing at each other; now came blows and blood; then -they locked themselves together in a life-and-death struggle. Satan -reached out his hand and crushed the life out of them with his fingers, -threw them away, wiped the red from his fingers on his handkerchief, -and went on talking where he had left off: “We cannot do wrong; neither -have we any disposition to do it, for we do not know what it is.” - -It seemed a strange speech, in the circumstances, but we barely -noticed that, we were so shocked and grieved at the wanton murder he -had committed--for murder it was, that was its true name, and it was -without palliation or excuse, for the men had not wronged him in any -way. It made us miserable, for we loved him, and had thought him so -noble and so beautiful and gracious, and had honestly believed he was -an angel; and to have him do this cruel thing--ah, it lowered him so, -and we had had such pride in him. He went right on talking, just as if -nothing had happened, telling about his travels, and the interesting -things he had seen in the big worlds of our solar system and of other -solar systems far away in the remotenesses of space, and about the -customs of the immortals that inhabit them, somehow fascinating us, -enchanting us, charming us in spite of the pitiful scene that was now -under our eyes, for the wives of the little dead men had found the -crushed and shapeless bodies and were crying over them, and sobbing -and lamenting, and a priest was kneeling there with his hands crossed -upon his breast, praying; and crowds and crowds of pitying friends were -massed about them, reverently uncovered, with their bare heads bowed, -and many with the tears running down--a scene which Satan paid no -attention to until the small noise of the weeping and praying began to -annoy him, then he reached out and took the heavy board seat out of our -swing and brought it down and mashed all those people into the earth -just as if they had been flies, and went on talking just the same. - -An angel, and kill a priest! An angel who did not know how to do wrong, -and yet destroys in cold blood hundreds of helpless poor men and women -who had never done him any harm! It made us sick to see that awful -deed, and to think that none of those poor creatures was prepared -except the priest, for none of them had ever heard a mass or seen a -church. And we were witnesses; we had seen these murders done and it -was our duty to tell, and let the law take its course. - -But he went on talking right along, and worked his enchantments upon us -again with that fatal music of his voice. He made us forget everything; -we could only listen to him, and love him, and be his slaves, to do -with us as he would. He made us drunk with the joy of being with him, -and of looking into the heaven of his eyes, and of feeling the ecstasy -that thrilled along our veins from the touch of his hand. - - - - -CHAPTER III - - -The Stranger had seen everything, he had been everywhere, he knew -everything, and he forgot nothing. What another must study, he learned -at a glance; there were no difficulties for him. And he made things -live before you when he told about them. He saw the world made; he saw -Adam created; he saw Samson surge against the pillars and bring the -temple down in ruins about him; he saw Cæsar’s death; he told of the -daily life in heaven; he had seen the damned writhing in the red waves -of hell; and he made us see all these things, and it was as if we were -on the spot and looking at them with our own eyes. And we felt them, -too, but there was no sign that they were anything to him beyond mere -entertainments. Those visions of hell, those poor babes and women and -girls and lads and men shrieking and supplicating in anguish--why, we -could hardly bear it, but he was as bland about it as if it had been so -many imitation rats in an artificial fire. - -And always when he was talking about men and women here on the earth -and their doings--even their grandest and sublimest--we were secretly -ashamed, for his manner showed that to him they and their doings were -of paltry poor consequence; often you would think he was talking about -flies, if you didn’t know. Once he even said, in so many words, that -our people down here were quite interesting to him, notwithstanding -they were so dull and ignorant and trivial and conceited, and so -diseased and rickety, and such a shabby, poor, worthless lot all -around. He said it in a quite matter-of-course way and without -bitterness, just as a person might talk about bricks or manure or any -other thing that was of no consequence and hadn’t feelings. I could see -he meant no offense, but in my thoughts I set it down as not very good -manners. - -“Manners!” he said. “Why, it is merely the truth, and truth is good -manners; manners are a fiction. The castle is done. Do you like it?” - - [Illustration: THE LIGHTNING BLAZED OUT FLASH UPON FLASH - AND SET THE CASTLE ON FIRE] - -Any one would have been obliged to like it. It was lovely to look -at, it was so shapely and fine, and so cunningly perfect in all -its particulars, even to the little flags waving from the turrets. -Satan said we must put the artillery in place now, and station the -halberdiers and display the cavalry. Our men and horses were a -spectacle to see, they were so little like what they were intended -for; for, of course, we had no art in making such things. Satan said -they were the worst he had seen; and when he touched them and made -them alive, it was just ridiculous the way they acted, on account of -their legs not being of uniform lengths. They reeled and sprawled -around as if they were drunk, and endangered everybody’s lives around -them, and finally fell over and lay helpless and kicking. It made us -all laugh, though it was a shameful thing to see. The guns were charged -with dirt, to fire a salute, but they were so crooked and so badly -made that they all burst when they went off, and killed some of the -gunners and crippled the others. Satan said we would have a storm now, -and an earthquake, if we liked, but we must stand off a piece, out of -danger. We wanted to call the people away, too, but he said never mind -them; they were of no consequence, and we could make more, some time or -other, if we needed them. - -A small storm-cloud began to settle down black over the castle, and -the miniature lightning and thunder began to play, and the ground to -quiver, and the wind to pipe and wheeze, and the rain to fall, and all -the people flocked into the castle for shelter. The cloud settled down -blacker and blacker, and one could see the castle only dimly through -it; the lightning blazed out flash upon flash and pierced the castle -and set it on fire, and the flames shone out red and fierce through the -cloud, and the people came flying out, shrieking, but Satan brushed -them back, paying no attention to our begging and crying and imploring; -and in the midst of the howling of the wind and volleying of the -thunder the magazine blew up, the earthquake rent the ground wide, and -the castle’s wreck and ruin tumbled into the chasm, which swallowed it -from sight and closed upon it, with all that innocent life, not one of -the five hundred poor creatures escaping. Our hearts were broken; we -could not keep from crying. - -“Don’t cry,” Satan said; “they were of no value.” - -“But they are gone to hell!” - -“Oh, it is no matter; we can make plenty more.” - -It was of no use to try to move him; evidently he was wholly without -feelings, and could not understand. He was full of bubbling spirits, -and as gay as if this were a wedding instead of a fiendish massacre. -And he was bent on making us feel as he did, and of course his magic -accomplished his desire. It was no trouble to him; he did whatever he -pleased with us. In a little while we were dancing on that grave, and -he was playing to us on a strange, sweet instrument which he took out -of his pocket; and the music--but there is no music like that, unless -perhaps in heaven, and that was where he brought it from, he said. It -made one mad, for pleasure; and we could not take our eyes from him, -and the looks that went out of our eyes came from our hearts, and their -dumb speech was worship. He brought the dance from heaven, too, and the -bliss of paradise was in it. - -Presently he said he must go away on an errand. But we could not bear -the thought of it, and clung to him, and pleaded with him to stay; -and that pleased him, and he said so, and said he would not go yet, -but would wait a little while and we would sit down and talk a few -minutes longer; and he told us Satan was only his real name, and he -was to be known by it to us alone, but he had chosen another one to be -called by in the presence of others; just a common one, such as people -have--Philip Traum. - -It sounded so odd and mean for such a being! But it was his decision, -and we said nothing; his decision was sufficient. - -We had seen wonders this day; and my thoughts began to run on the -pleasure it would be to tell them when I got home, but he noticed those -thoughts, and said: - -“No, all these matters are a secret among us four. I do not mind your -trying to tell them, if you like, but I will protect your tongues, and -nothing of the secret will escape from them.” - -It was a disappointment, but it couldn’t be helped, and it cost us a -sigh or two. We talked pleasantly along, and he was always reading our -thoughts and responding to them, and it seemed to me that this was the -most wonderful of all the things he did, but he interrupted my musings -and said: - -“No, it would be wonderful for you, but it is not wonderful for me. I -am not limited like you. I am not subject to human conditions. I can -measure and understand your human weaknesses, for I have studied them; -but I have none of them. My flesh is not real, although it would seem -firm to your touch; my clothes are not real; I am a spirit. Father -Peter is coming.” We looked around, but did not see any one. “He is not -in sight yet, but you will see him presently.” - -“Do you know him, Satan?” - -“No.” - -“Won’t you talk with him when he comes? He is not ignorant and dull, -like us, and he would so like to talk with you. Will you?” - -“Another time, yes, but not now. I must go on my errand after a little. -There he is now; you can see him. Sit still, and don’t say anything.” - -We looked up and saw Father Peter approaching through the chestnuts. -We three were sitting together in the grass, and Satan sat in front -of us in the path. Father Peter came slowly along with his head down, -thinking, and stopped within a couple of yards of us and took off his -hat and got out his silk handkerchief, and stood there mopping his -face and looking as if he were going to speak to us, but he didn’t. -Presently he muttered, “I can’t think what brought me here; it seems as -if I were in my study a minute ago--but I suppose I have been dreaming -along for an hour and have come all this stretch without noticing; for -I am not myself in these troubled days.” Then he went mumbling along -to himself and walked straight through Satan, just as if nothing were -there. It made us catch our breath to see it. We had the impulse to -cry out, the way you nearly always do when a startling thing happens, -but something mysteriously restrained us and we remained quiet, only -breathing fast. Then the trees hid Father Peter after a little, and -Satan said: - -“It is as I told you--I am only a spirit.” - -“Yes, one perceives it now,” said Nikolaus, “but we are not spirits. It -is plain he did not see you, but were we invisible, too? He looked at -us, but he didn’t seem to see us.” - -“No, none of us was visible to him, for I wished it so.” - -It seemed almost too good to be true, that we were actually seeing -these romantic and wonderful things, and that it was not a dream. And -there he sat, looking just like anybody--so natural and simple and -charming, and chatting along again the same as ever, and--well, words -cannot make you understand what we felt. It was an ecstasy; and an -ecstasy is a thing that will not go into words; it feels like music, -and one cannot tell about music so that another person can get the -feeling of it. He was back in the old ages once more now, and making -them live before us. He had seen so much, so much! It was just a -wonder to look at him and try to think how it must seem to have such -experience behind one. - -But it made you seem sorrowfully trivial, and the creature of a day, -and such a short and paltry day, too. And he didn’t say anything to -raise up your drooping pride--no, not a word. He always spoke of men -in the same old indifferent way--just as one speaks of bricks and -manure-piles and such things; you could see that they were of no -consequence to him, one way or the other. He didn’t mean to hurt us, -you could see that; just as we don’t mean to insult a brick when we -disparage it; a brick’s emotions are nothing to us; it never occurs to -us to think whether it has any or not. - -Once when he was bunching the most illustrious kings and conquerors -and poets and prophets and pirates and beggars together--just a -brick-pile--I was shamed into putting in a word for man, and asked -him why he made so much difference between men and himself. He had to -struggle with that a moment; he didn’t seem to understand how I could -ask such a strange question. Then he said: - -“The difference between man and me? The difference between a mortal and -an immortal? between a cloud and a spirit?” He picked up a wood-louse -that was creeping along a piece of bark: “What is the difference -between Cæsar and this?” - -I said, “One cannot compare things which by their nature and by the -interval between them are not comparable.” - -“You have answered your own question,” he said. “I will expand it. -Man is made of dirt--I saw him made. I am not made of dirt. Man is -a museum of diseases, a home of impurities; he comes to-day and is -gone to-morrow; he begins as dirt and departs as stench; I am of the -aristocracy of the Imperishables. And man has the _Moral Sense_. You -understand? He has the _Moral Sense_. That would seem to be difference -enough between us, all by itself.” - -He stopped there, as if that settled the matter. I was sorry, for at -that time I had but a dim idea of what the Moral Sense was. I merely -knew that we were proud of having it, and when he talked like that -about it, it wounded me, and I felt as a girl feels who thinks her -dearest finery is being admired and then overhears strangers making fun -of it. For a while we were all silent, and I, for one, was depressed. -Then Satan began to chat again, and soon he was sparkling along in such -a cheerful and vivacious vein that my spirits rose once more. He told -some very cunning things that put us in a gale of laughter; and when he -was telling about the time that Samson tied the torches to the foxes’ -tails and set them loose in the Philistines’ corn, and Samson sitting -on the fence slapping his thighs and laughing, with the tears running -down his cheeks, and lost his balance and fell off the fence, the -memory of that picture got him to laughing, too, and we did have a most -lovely and jolly time. By and by he said: - -“I am going on my errand now.” - -“Don’t!” we all said. “Don’t go; stay with us. You won’t come back.” - -“Yes, I will; I give you my word.” - -“When? To-night? Say when.” - -“It won’t be long. You will see.” - -“We like you.” - -“And I you. And as a proof of it I will show you something fine to see. -Usually when I go I merely vanish; but now I will dissolve myself and -let you see me do it.” - -He stood up, and it was quickly finished. He thinned away and thinned -away until he was a soap-bubble, except that he kept his shape. You -could see the bushes through him as clearly as you see things through -a soap-bubble, and all over him played and flashed the delicate -iridescent colors of the bubble, and along with them was that thing -shaped like a window-sash which you always see on the globe of -the bubble. You have seen a bubble strike the carpet and lightly -bound along two or three times before it bursts. He did that. He -sprang--touched the grass--bounded--floated along--touched again--and -so on, and presently exploded--puff! and in his place was vacancy. - -It was a strange and beautiful thing to see. We did not say anything, -but sat wondering and dreaming and blinking; and finally Seppi roused -up and said, mournfully sighing: - -“I suppose none of it has happened.” - -Nikolaus sighed and said about the same. - -I was miserable to hear them say it, for it was the same cold fear that -was in my own mind. Then we saw poor old Father Peter wandering along -back, with his head bent down, searching the ground. When he was pretty -close to us he looked up and saw us, and said, “How long have you been -here, boys?” - -“A little while, Father.” - -“Then it is since I came by, and maybe you can help me. Did you come up -by the path?” - -“Yes, Father.” - -“That is good. I came the same way. I have lost my wallet. There wasn’t -much in it, but a very little is much to me, for it was all I had. I -suppose you haven’t seen anything of it?” - -“No, Father, but we will help you hunt.” - -“It is what I was going to ask you. Why, here it is!” - -We hadn’t noticed it; yet there it lay, right where Satan stood when he -began to melt--if he did melt and it wasn’t a delusion. Father Peter -picked it up and looked very much surprised. - -“It is mine,” he said, “but not the contents. This is fat; mine was -flat; mine was light; this is heavy.” He opened it; it was stuffed as -full as it could hold with gold coins. He let us gaze our fill; and of -course we did gaze, for we had never seen so much money at one time -before. All our mouths came open to say “Satan did it!” but nothing -came out. There it was, you see--we couldn’t tell what Satan didn’t -want told; he had said so himself. - -“Boys, did you do this?” - -It made us laugh. And it made him laugh, too, as soon as he thought -what a foolish question it was. - -“Who has been here?” - -Our mouths came open to answer, but stood so for a moment, because we -couldn’t say “Nobody,” for it wouldn’t be true, and the right word -didn’t seem to come; then I thought of the right one, and said it: - -“Not a human being.” - -“That is so,” said the others, and let their mouths go shut. - -“It is not so,” said Father Peter, and looked at us very severely. -“I came by here a while ago, and there was no one here, but that is -nothing; some one has been here since. I don’t mean to say that the -person didn’t pass here before you came, and I don’t mean to say you -saw him, but some one did pass, that I know. On your honor--you saw no -one?” - -“Not a human being.” - -“That is sufficient; I know you are telling me the truth.” - -He began to count the money on the path, we on our knees eagerly -helping to stack it in little piles. - -“It’s eleven hundred ducats odd!” he said. “Oh dear! if it were only -mine--and I need it so!” and his voice broke and his lips quivered. - -“It is yours, sir!” we all cried out at once, “every heller!” - -“No--it isn’t mine. Only four ducats are mine; the rest...!” He fell to -dreaming, poor old soul, and caressing some of the coins in his hands, -and forgot where he was, sitting there on his heels with his old gray -head bare; it was pitiful to see. “No,” he said, waking up, “it isn’t -mine. I can’t account for it. I think some enemy ... it must be a trap.” - -Nikolaus said: “Father Peter, with the exception of the astrologer you -haven’t a real enemy in the village--nor Marget, either. And not even a -half-enemy that’s rich enough to chance eleven hundred ducats to do you -a mean turn. I’ll ask you if that’s so or not?” - -He couldn’t get around that argument, and it cheered him up. “But it -isn’t mine, you see--it isn’t mine, in any case.” - -He said it in a wistful way, like a person that wouldn’t be sorry, but -glad, if anybody would contradict him. - -“It is yours, Father Peter, and we are witness to it. Aren’t we, boys?” - -“Yes, we are--and we’ll stand by it, too.” - -“Bless your hearts, you do almost persuade me; you do, indeed. If I -had only a hundred-odd ducats of it! The house is mortgaged for it, and -we’ve no home for our heads if we don’t pay to-morrow. And that four -ducats is all we’ve got in the--” - -“It’s yours, every bit of it, and you’ve got to take it--we are bail -that it’s all right. Aren’t we, Theodor? Aren’t we, Seppi?” - -We two said yes, and Nikolaus stuffed the money back into the shabby -old wallet and made the owner take it. So he said he would use two -hundred of it, for his house was good enough security for that, and -would put the rest at interest till the rightful owner came for it; -and on our side we must sign a paper showing how he got the money--a -paper to show to the villagers as proof that he had not got out of his -troubles dishonestly. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - - -It made immense talk next day, when Father Peter paid Solomon Isaacs in -gold and left the rest of the money with him at interest. Also, there -was a pleasant change; many people called at the house to congratulate -him, and a number of cool old friends became kind and friendly again; -and, to top all, Marget was invited to a party. - -And there was no mystery; Father Peter told the whole circumstance just -as it happened, and said he could not account for it, only it was the -plain hand of Providence, so far as he could see. - -One or two shook their heads and said privately it looked more like the -hand of Satan; and really that seemed a surprisingly good guess for -ignorant people like that. Some came slyly buzzing around and tried -to coax us boys to come out and “tell the truth”; and promised they -wouldn’t ever tell, but only wanted to know for their own satisfaction, -because the whole thing was so curious. They even wanted to buy the -secret, and pay money for it; and if we could have invented something -that would answer--but we couldn’t; we hadn’t the ingenuity, so we had -to let the chance go by, and it was a pity. - -We carried that secret around without any trouble, but the other one, -the big one, the splendid one, burned the very vitals of us, it was -so hot to get out and we so hot to let it out and astonish people -with it. But we had to keep it in; in fact, it kept itself in. Satan -said it would, and it did. We went off every day and got to ourselves -in the woods so that we could talk about Satan, and really that was -the only subject we thought of or cared anything about; and day and -night we watched for him and hoped he would come, and we got more -and more impatient all the time. We hadn’t any interest in the other -boys any more, and wouldn’t take part in their games and enterprises. -They seemed so tame, after Satan; and their doings so trifling and -commonplace after his adventures in antiquity and the constellations, -and his miracles and meltings and explosions, and all that. - -During the first day we were in a state of anxiety on account of one -thing, and we kept going to Father Peter’s house on one pretext or -another to keep track of it. That was the gold coin; we were afraid it -would crumble and turn to dust, like fairy money. If it did--But it -didn’t. At the end of the day no complaint had been made about it, so -after that we were satisfied that it was real gold, and dropped the -anxiety out of our minds. - -There was a question which we wanted to ask Father Peter, and finally -we went there the second evening, a little diffidently, after drawing -straws, and I asked it as casually as I could, though it did not sound -as casual as I wanted, because I didn’t know how: - -“What is the Moral Sense, sir?” - -He looked down, surprised, over his great spectacles, and said, “Why, -it is the faculty which enables us to distinguish good from evil.” - -It threw some light, but not a glare, and I was a little disappointed, -also to some degree embarrassed. He was waiting for me to go on, so, in -default of anything else to say, I asked, “Is it valuable?” - -“Valuable? Heavens! lad, it is the one thing that lifts man above the -beasts that perish and makes him heir to immortality!” - -This did not remind me of anything further to say, so I got out, with -the other boys, and we went away with that indefinite sense you have -often had of being filled but not fatted. They wanted me to explain, -but I was tired. - -We passed out through the parlor, and there was Marget at the spinnet -teaching Marie Lueger. So one of the deserting pupils was back; and an -influential one, too; the others would follow. Marget jumped up and -ran and thanked us again, with tears in her eyes--this was the third -time--for saving her and her uncle from being turned into the street, -and we told her again we hadn’t done it; but that was her way, she -never could be grateful enough for anything a person did for her; so -we let her have her say. And as we passed through the garden, there was -Wilhelm Meidling sitting there waiting, for it was getting toward the -edge of the evening, and he would be asking Marget to take a walk along -the river with him when she was done with the lesson. He was a young -lawyer, and succeeding fairly well and working his way along, little -by little. He was very fond of Marget, and she of him. He had not -deserted along with the others, but had stood his ground all through. -His faithfulness was not lost on Marget and her uncle. He hadn’t so -very much talent, but he was handsome and good, and these are a kind -of talents themselves and help along. He asked us how the lesson was -getting along, and we told him it was about done. And maybe it was so; -we didn’t know anything about it, but we judged it would please him, -and it did, and didn’t cost us anything. - - - - -CHAPTER V - - -On the fourth day comes the astrologer from his crumbling old tower up -the valley, where he had heard the news, I reckon. He had a private -talk with us, and we told him what we could, for we were mightily in -dread of him. He sat there studying and studying awhile to himself; -then he asked: - -“How many ducats did you say?” - -“Eleven hundred and seven, sir.” - -Then he said, as if he were talking to himself: “It is ver-y singular. -Yes ... very strange. A curious coincidence.” Then he began to ask -questions, and went over the whole ground from the beginning, we -answering. By and by he said: “Eleven hundred and six ducats. It is a -large sum.” - -“Seven,” said Seppi, correcting him. - -“Oh, seven, was it? Of course a ducat more or less isn’t of -consequence, but you said eleven hundred and six before.” - -It would not have been safe for us to say he was mistaken, but we knew -he was. Nikolaus said, “We ask pardon for the mistake, but we meant to -say seven.” - -“Oh, it is no matter, lad; it was merely that I noticed the -discrepancy. It is several days, and you cannot be expected to remember -precisely. One is apt to be inexact when there is no particular -circumstance to impress the count upon the memory.” - -“But there was one, sir,” said Seppi, eagerly. - -“What was it, my son?” asked the astrologer, indifferently. - -“First, we all counted the piles of coin, each in turn, and all made -it the same--eleven hundred and six. But I had slipped one out, for -fun, when the count began, and now I slipped it back and said, ‘I think -there is a mistake--there are eleven hundred and seven; let us count -again.’ We did, and of course I was right. They were astonished; then I -told how it came about.” - -The astrologer asked us if this was so, and we said it was. - -“That settles it,” he said. “I know the thief now. Lads, the money was -stolen.” - - [Illustration: ON THE FOURTH DAY COMES THE ASTROLOGER FROM HIS - CRUMBLING OLD TOWER] - -Then he went away, leaving us very much troubled, and wondering what -he could mean. In about an hour we found out; for by that time it was -all over the village that Father Peter had been arrested for stealing -a great sum of money from the astrologer. Everybody’s tongue was loose -and going. Many said it was not in Father Peter’s character and must be -a mistake; but the others shook their heads and said misery and want -could drive a suffering man to almost anything. About one detail -there were no differences; all agreed that Father Peter’s account of -how the money came into his hands was just about unbelievable--it -had such an impossible look. They said it might have come into the -astrologer’s hands in some such way, but into Father Peter’s, never! -Our characters began to suffer now. We were Father Peter’s only -witnesses; how much did he probably pay us to back up his fantastic -tale? People talked that kind of talk to us pretty freely and frankly, -and were full of scoffings when we begged them to believe really we had -told only the truth. Our parents were harder on us than any one else. -Our fathers said we were disgracing our families, and they commanded us -to purge ourselves of our lie, and there was no limit to their anger -when we continued to say we had spoken true. Our mothers cried over us -and begged us to give back our bribe and get back our honest names and -save our families from shame, and come out and honorably confess. And -at last we were so worried and harassed that we tried to tell the whole -thing, Satan and all--but no, it wouldn’t come out. We were hoping -and longing all the time that Satan would come and help us out of our -trouble, but there was no sign of him. - -Within an hour after the astrologer’s talk with us, Father Peter was -in prison and the money sealed up and in the hands of the officers of -the law. The money was in a bag, and Solomon Isaacs said he had not -touched it since he had counted it; his oath was taken that it was the -same money, and that the amount was eleven hundred and seven ducats. -Father Peter claimed trial by the ecclesiastical court, but our other -priest, Father Adolf, said an ecclesiastical court hadn’t jurisdiction -over a suspended priest. The bishop upheld him. That settled it; the -case would go to trial in the civil court. The court would not sit for -some time to come. Wilhelm Meidling would be Father Peter’s lawyer and -do the best he could, of course, but he told us privately that a weak -case on his side and all the power and prejudice on the other made the -outlook bad. - -So Marget’s new happiness died a quick death. No friends came to -condole with her, and none were expected; an unsigned note withdrew her -invitation to the party. There would be no scholars to take lessons. -How could she support herself? She could remain in the house, for the -mortgage was paid off, though the government and not poor Solomon -Isaacs had the mortgage-money in its grip for the present. Old Ursula, -who was cook, chambermaid, housekeeper, laundress, and everything else -for Father Peter, and had been Marget’s nurse in earlier years, said -God would provide. But she said that from habit, for she was a good -Christian. She meant to help in the providing, to make sure, if she -could find a way. - -We boys wanted to go and see Marget and show friendliness for her, but -our parents were afraid of offending the community and wouldn’t let -us. The astrologer was going around inflaming everybody against Father -Peter, and saying he was an abandoned thief and had stolen eleven -hundred and seven gold ducats from him. He said he knew he was a thief -from that fact, for it was exactly the sum he had lost and which Father -Peter pretended he had “found.” - -In the afternoon of the fourth day after the catastrophe old Ursula -appeared at our house and asked for some washing to do, and begged my -mother to keep this secret, to save Marget’s pride, who would stop this -project if she found it out, yet Marget had not enough to eat and was -growing weak. Ursula was growing weak herself, and showed it; and she -ate of the food that was offered her like a starving person, but could -not be persuaded to carry any home, for Marget would not eat charity -food. She took some clothes down to the stream to wash them, but we saw -from the window that handling the bat was too much for her strength; so -she was called back and a trifle of money offered her, which she was -afraid to take lest Marget should suspect; then she took it, saying she -would explain that she found it in the road. To keep it from being a -lie and damning her soul, she got me to drop it while she watched; then -she went along by there and found it, and exclaimed with surprise and -joy, and picked it up and went her way. Like the rest of the village, -she could tell every-day lies fast enough and without taking any -precautions against fire and brimstone on their account; but this was a -new kind of lie, and it had a dangerous look because she hadn’t had any -practice in it. After a week’s practice it wouldn’t have given her any -trouble. It is the way we are made. - -I was in trouble, for how would Marget live? Ursula could not find a -coin in the road every day--perhaps not even a second one. And I was -ashamed, too, for not having been near Marget, and she so in need of -friends; but that was my parents’ fault, not mine, and I couldn’t help -it. - -I was walking along the path, feeling very downhearted, when a most -cheery and tingling freshening-up sensation went rippling through me, -and I was too glad for any words, for I knew by that sign that Satan -was by. I had noticed it before. Next moment he was alongside of me -and I was telling him all my trouble and what had been happening to -Marget and her uncle. While we were talking we turned a curve and saw -old Ursula resting in the shade of a tree, and she had a lean stray -kitten in her lap and was petting it. I asked her where she got it, and -she said it came out of the woods and followed her; and she said it -probably hadn’t any mother or any friends and she was going to take it -home and take care of it. Satan said: - -“I understand you are very poor. Why do you want to add another mouth -to feed? Why don’t you give it to some rich person?” - -Ursula bridled at this and said: “Perhaps you would like to have it. -You must be rich, with your fine clothes and quality airs.” Then she -sniffed and said: “Give it to the rich--the idea! The rich don’t care -for anybody but themselves; it’s only the poor that have feeling for -the poor, and help them. The poor and God. God will provide for this -kitten.” - -“What makes you think so?” - -Ursula’s eyes snapped with anger. “Because I know it!” she said. “Not a -sparrow falls to the ground without His seeing it.” - -“But it falls, just the same. What good is seeing it fall?” - -Old Ursula’s jaws worked, but she could not get any word out for the -moment, she was so horrified. When she got her tongue she stormed out, -“Go about your business, you puppy, or I will take a stick to you!” - -I could not speak, I was so scared. I knew that with his notions about -the human race Satan would consider it a matter of no consequence to -strike her dead, there being “plenty more”; but my tongue stood still, -I could give her no warning. But nothing happened; Satan remained -tranquil--tranquil and indifferent. I suppose he could not be insulted -by Ursula any more than the king could be insulted by a tumble-bug. -The old woman jumped to her feet when she made her remark, and did it -as briskly as a young girl. It had been many years since she had done -the like of that. That was Satan’s influence; he was a fresh breeze to -the weak and the sick, wherever he came. His presence affected even -the lean kitten, and it skipped to the ground and began to chase a -leaf. This surprised Ursula, and she stood looking at the creature and -nodding her head wonderingly, her anger quite forgotten. - -“What’s come over it?” she said. “Awhile ago it could hardly walk.” - -“You have not seen a kitten of that breed before,” said Satan. - -Ursula was not proposing to be friendly with the mocking stranger, and -she gave him an ungentle look and retorted: “Who asked you to come here -and pester me, I’d like to know? And what do you know about what I’ve -seen and what I haven’t seen?” - -“You haven’t seen a kitten with the hair-spines on its tongue pointing -to the front, have you?” - -“No--nor you, either.” - -“Well, examine this one and see.” - -Ursula was become pretty spry, but the kitten was spryer, and she could -not catch it, and had to give it up. Then Satan said: - -“Give it a name, and maybe it will come.” - -Ursula tried several names, but the kitten was not interested. - -“Call it Agnes. Try that.” - -The creature answered to the name and came. Ursula examined its tongue. -“Upon my word, it’s true!” she said. “I have not seen this kind of a -cat before. Is it yours?” - -“No.” - -“Then how did you know its name so pat?” - -“Because all cats of that breed are named Agnes; they will not answer -to any other.” - -Ursula was impressed. “It is the most wonderful thing!” Then a shadow -of trouble came into her face, for her superstitions were aroused, and -she reluctantly put the creature down, saying: “I suppose I must let -it go; I am not afraid--no, not exactly that, though the priest--well, -I’ve heard people--indeed, many people.... And, besides, it is quite -well now and can take care of itself.” She sighed, and turned to -go, murmuring: “It is such a pretty one, too, and would be such -company--and the house is so sad and lonesome these troubled days ... -Miss Marget so mournful and just a shadow, and the old master shut up -in jail.” - -“It seems a pity not to keep it,” said Satan. - -Ursula turned quickly--just as if she were hoping some one would -encourage her. - -“Why?” she asked, wistfully. - -“Because this breed brings luck.” - -“Does it? Is it true? Young man, do you know it to be true? How does it -bring luck?” - -“Well, it brings money, anyway.” - -Ursula looked disappointed. “Money? A cat bring money? The idea! You -could never sell it here; people do not buy cats here; one can’t even -give them away.” She turned to go. - -“I don’t mean sell it. I mean have an income from it. This kind is -called the Lucky Cat. Its owner finds four silver groschen in his -pocket every morning.” - -I saw the indignation rising in the old woman’s face. She was insulted. -This boy was making fun of her. That was her thought. She thrust her -hands into her pockets and straightened up to give him a piece of her -mind. Her temper was all up, and hot. Her mouth came open and let out -three words of a bitter sentence, ... then it fell silent, and the -anger in her face turned to surprise or wonder or fear, or something, -and she slowly brought out her hands from her pockets and opened them -and held them so. In one was my piece of money, in the other lay four -silver groschen. She gazed a little while, perhaps to see if the -groschen would vanish away; then she said, fervently: - -“It’s true--it’s true--and I’m ashamed and beg forgiveness, O dear -master and benefactor!” And she ran to Satan and kissed his hand, over -and over again, according to the Austrian custom. - -In her heart she probably believed it was a witch-cat and an agent of -the Devil; but no matter, it was all the more certain to be able to -keep its contract and furnish a daily good living for the family, for -in matters of finance even the piousest of our peasants would have more -confidence in an arrangement with the Devil than with an archangel. -Ursula started homeward, with Agnes in her arms, and I said I wished I -had her privilege of seeing Marget. - -Then I caught my breath, for we were there. There in the parlor, and -Marget standing looking at us, astonished. She was feeble and pale, -but I knew that those conditions would not last in Satan’s atmosphere, -and it turned out so. I introduced Satan--that is, Philip Traum--and -we sat down and talked. There was no constraint. We were simple folk, -in our village, and when a stranger was a pleasant person we were -soon friends. Marget wondered how we got in without her hearing us. -Traum said the door was open, and we walked in and waited until she -should turn around and greet us. This was not true; no door was open; -we entered through the walls or the roof or down the chimney, or -somehow; but no matter, what Satan wished a person to believe, the -person was sure to believe, and so Marget was quite satisfied with that -explanation. And then the main part of her mind was on Traum, anyway; -she couldn’t keep her eyes off him, he was so beautiful. That gratified -me, and made me proud. I hoped he would show off some, but he didn’t. -He seemed only interested in being friendly and telling lies. He said -he was an orphan. That made Marget pity him. The water came into her -eyes. He said he had never known his mamma; she passed away while he -was a young thing; and said his papa was in shattered health, and had -no property to speak of--in fact, none of any earthly value--but he had -an uncle in business down in the tropics, and he was very well off and -had a monopoly, and it was from this uncle that he drew his support. -The very mention of a kind uncle was enough to remind Marget of her -own, and her eyes filled again. She said she hoped their two uncles -would meet, some day. It made me shudder. Philip said he hoped so, too; -and that made me shudder again. - -“Maybe they will,” said Marget. “Does your uncle travel much?” - -“Oh yes, he goes all about; he has business everywhere.” - -And so they went on chatting, and poor Marget forgot her sorrows for -one little while, anyway. It was probably the only really bright and -cheery hour she had known lately. I saw she liked Philip, and I knew -she would. And when he told her he was studying for the ministry I -could see that she liked him better than ever. And then, when he -promised to get her admitted to the jail so that she could see her -uncle, that was the capstone. He said he would give the guards a little -present, and she must always go in the evening after dark, and say -nothing, “but just show this paper and pass in, and show it again when -you come out”--and he scribbled some queer marks on the paper and gave -it to her, and she was ever so thankful, and right away was in a fever -for the sun to go down; for in that old, cruel time prisoners were not -allowed to see their friends, and sometimes they spent years in the -jails without ever seeing a friendly face. I judged that the marks on -the paper were an enchantment, and that the guards would not know what -they were doing, nor have any memory of it afterward; and that was -indeed the way of it. Ursula put her head in at the door now and said: - -“Supper’s ready, miss.” Then she saw us and looked frightened, and -motioned me to come to her, which I did, and she asked if we had told -about the cat. I said no, and she was relieved, and said please don’t; -for if Miss Marget knew, she would think it was an unholy cat and would -send for a priest and have its gifts all purified out of it, and then -there wouldn’t be any more dividends. So I said we wouldn’t tell, and -she was satisfied. Then I was beginning to say good-by to Marget, but -Satan interrupted and said, ever so politely--well, I don’t remember -just the words, but anyway he as good as invited himself to supper, and -me, too. Of course Marget was miserably embarrassed, for she had no -reason to suppose there would be half enough for a sick bird. Ursula -heard him, and she came straight into the room, not a bit pleased. At -first she was astonished to see Marget looking so fresh and rosy, and -said so; then she spoke up in her native tongue, which was Bohemian, -and said--as I learned afterward--“Send him away, Miss Marget; there’s -not victuals enough.” - -Before Marget could speak, Satan had the word, and was talking back at -Ursula in her own language--which was a surprise to her, and for her -mistress, too. He said, “Didn’t I see you down the road awhile ago?” - -“Yes, sir.” - -“Ah, that pleases me; I see you remember me.” He stepped to her and -whispered: “I told you it is a Lucky Cat. Don’t be troubled; it will -provide.” - -That sponged the slate of Ursula’s feelings clean of its anxieties, -and a deep, financial joy shone in her eyes. The cat’s value was -augmenting. It was getting full time for Marget to take some sort of -notice of Satan’s invitation, and she did it in the best way, the -honest way that was natural to her. She said she had little to offer, -but that we were welcome if we would share it with her. - -We had supper in the kitchen, and Ursula waited at table. A small fish -was in the frying-pan, crisp and brown and tempting, and one could see -that Marget was not expecting such respectable food as this. Ursula -brought it, and Marget divided it between Satan and me, declining to -take any of it herself; and was beginning to say she did not care -for fish to-day, but she did not finish the remark. It was because -she noticed that another fish had appeared in the pan. She looked -surprised, but did not say anything. She probably meant to inquire of -Ursula about this later. There were other surprises: flesh and game and -wines and fruits--things which had been strangers in that house lately; -but Marget made no exclamations, and now even looked unsurprised, -which was Satan’s influence, of course. Satan talked right along, and -was entertaining, and made the time pass pleasantly and cheerfully; -and although he told a good many lies, it was no harm in him, for he -was only an angel and did not know any better. They do not know right -from wrong; I knew this, because I remembered what he had said about -it. He got on the good side of Ursula. He praised her to Marget, -confidentially, but speaking just loud enough for Ursula to hear. He -said she was a fine woman, and he hoped some day to bring her and his -uncle together. Very soon Ursula was mincing and simpering around in -a ridiculous, girly way, and smoothing out her gown and prinking at -herself like a foolish old hen, and all the time pretending she was -not hearing what Satan was saying. I was ashamed, for it showed us to -be what Satan considered us, a silly race and trivial. Satan said his -uncle entertained a great deal, and to have a clever woman presiding -over the festivities would double the attractions of the place. - -“But your uncle is a gentleman, isn’t he?” asked Marget. - -“Yes,” said Satan, indifferently; “some even call him a Prince, out of -compliment, but he is not bigoted; to him personal merit is everything, -rank nothing.” - -My hand was hanging down by my chair; Agnes came along and licked it; -by this act a secret was revealed. I started to say, “It is all a -mistake; this is just a common, ordinary cat; the hair-needles on her -tongue point inward, not outward.” But the words did not come, because -they couldn’t. Satan smiled upon me, and I understood. - -When it was dark Marget took food and wine and fruit, in a basket, -and hurried away to the jail, and Satan and I walked toward my home. -I was thinking to myself that I should like to see what the inside of -the jail was like; Satan overheard the thought, and the next moment we -were in the jail. We were in the torture-chamber, Satan said. The rack -was there, and the other instruments, and there was a smoky lantern -or two hanging on the walls and helping to make the place look dim -and dreadful. There were people there--and executioners--but as they -took no notice of us, it meant that we were invisible. A young man -lay bound, and Satan said he was suspected of being a heretic, and -the executioners were about to inquire into it. They asked the man -to confess to the charge, and he said he could not, for it was not -true. Then they drove splinter after splinter under his nails, and -he shrieked with the pain. Satan was not disturbed, but I could not -endure it, and had to be whisked out of there. I was faint and sick, -but the fresh air revived me, and we walked toward my home. I said it -was a brutal thing. - -“No, it was a human thing. You should not insult the brutes by such a -misuse of that word; they have not deserved it,” and he went on talking -like that. “It is like your paltry race--always lying, always claiming -virtues which it hasn’t got, always denying them to the higher animals, -which alone possess them. No brute ever does a cruel thing--that is -the monopoly of those with the Moral Sense. When a brute inflicts pain -he does it innocently; it is not wrong; for him there is no such thing -as wrong. And he does not inflict pain for the pleasure of inflicting -it--only man does that. Inspired by that mongrel Moral Sense of his! A -sense whose function is to distinguish between right and wrong, with -liberty to choose which of them he will do. Now what advantage can he -get out of that? He is always choosing, and in nine cases out of ten he -prefers the wrong. There shouldn’t be any wrong; and without the Moral -Sense there couldn’t be any. And yet he is such an unreasoning creature -that he is not able to perceive that the Moral Sense degrades him to -the bottom layer of animated beings and is a shameful possession. Are -you feeling better? Let me show you something.” - - - - -CHAPTER VI - - -In a moment we were in a French village. We walked through a great -factory of some sort, where men and women and little children were -toiling in heat and dirt and a fog of dust; and they were clothed in -rags, and drooped at their work, for they were worn and half starved, -and weak and drowsy. Satan said: - -“It is some more Moral Sense. The proprietors are rich, and very holy; -but the wage they pay to these poor brothers and sisters of theirs is -only enough to keep them from dropping dead with hunger. The work-hours -are fourteen per day, winter and summer--from six in the morning till -eight at night--little children and all. And they walk to and from -the pigsties which they inhabit--four miles each way, through mud and -slush, rain, snow, sleet, and storm, daily, year in and year out. They -get four hours of sleep. They kennel together, three families in a -room, in unimaginable filth and stench; and disease comes, and they die -off like flies. Have they committed a crime, these mangy things? No. -What have they done, that they are punished so? Nothing at all, except -getting themselves born into your foolish race. You have seen how -they treat a misdoer there in the jail; now you see how they treat the -innocent and the worthy. Is your race logical? Are these ill-smelling -innocents better off than that heretic? Indeed, no; his punishment is -trivial compared with theirs. They broke him on the wheel and smashed -him to rags and pulp after we left, and he is dead now, and free of -your precious race; but these poor slaves here--why, they have been -dying for years, and some of them will not escape from life for years -to come. It is the Moral Sense which teaches the factory proprietors -the difference between right and wrong--you perceive the result. They -think themselves better than dogs. Ah, you are such an illogical, -unreasoning race! And paltry--oh, unspeakably!” - -Then he dropped all seriousness and just overstrained himself -making fun of us, and deriding our pride in our warlike deeds, our -great heroes, our imperishable fames, our mighty kings, our ancient -aristocracies, our venerable history--and laughed and laughed till it -was enough to make a person sick to hear him; and finally he sobered a -little and said, “But, after all, it is not all ridiculous; there is a -sort of pathos about it when one remembers how few are your days, how -childish your pomps, and what shadows you are!” - -Presently all things vanished suddenly from my sight, and I knew what -it meant. The next moment we were walking along in our village; and -down toward the river I saw the twinkling lights of the Golden Stag. -Then in the dark I heard a joyful cry: - -“He’s come again!” - -It was Seppi Wohlmeyer. He had felt his blood leap and his spirits -rise in a way that could mean only one thing, and he knew Satan was -near, although it was too dark to see him. He came to us, and we walked -along together, and Seppi poured out his gladness like water. It was -as if he were a lover and had found his sweetheart who had been lost. -Seppi was a smart and animated boy, and had enthusiasm and expression, -and was a contrast to Nikolaus and me. He was full of the last new -mystery, now--the disappearance of Hans Oppert, the village loafer. -People were beginning to be curious about it, he said. He did not say -anxious--curious was the right word, and strong enough. No one had seen -Hans for a couple of days. - -“Not since he did that brutal thing, you know,” he said. - -“What brutal thing?” It was Satan that asked. - -“Well, he is always clubbing his dog, which is a good dog, and his -only friend, and is faithful, and loves him, and does no one any -harm; and two days ago he was at it again, just for nothing--just -for pleasure--and the dog was howling and begging, and Theodor and I -begged, too, but he threatened us, and struck the dog again with all -his might and knocked one of his eyes out, and he said to us, ‘There, -I hope you are satisfied now; that’s what you have got for him by your -damned meddling’--and he laughed, the heartless brute.” Seppi’s voice -trembled with pity and anger. I guessed what Satan would say, and he -said it. - -“There is that misused word again--that shabby slander. Brutes do not -act like that, but only men.” - -“Well, it was inhuman, anyway.” - -“No, it wasn’t, Seppi; it was human--quite distinctly human. It is not -pleasant to hear you libel the higher animals by attributing to them -dispositions which they are free from, and which are found nowhere but -in the human heart. None of the higher animals is tainted with the -disease called the Moral Sense. Purify your language, Seppi; drop those -lying phrases out of it.” - -He spoke pretty sternly--for him--and I was sorry I hadn’t warned -Seppi to be more particular about the word he used. I knew how he was -feeling. He would not want to offend Satan; he would rather offend all -his kin. There was an uncomfortable silence, but relief soon came, -for that poor dog came along now, with his eye hanging down, and went -straight to Satan, and began to moan and mutter brokenly, and Satan -began to answer in the same way, and it was plain that they were -talking together in the dog language. We all sat down in the grass, in -the moonlight, for the clouds were breaking away now, and Satan took -the dog’s head in his lap and put the eye back in its place, and the -dog was comfortable, and he wagged his tail and licked Satan’s hand, -and looked thankful and said the same; I knew he was saying it, though -I did not understand the words. Then the two talked together a bit, and -Satan said: - -“He says his master was drunk.” - -“Yes, he was,” said we. - -“And an hour later he fell over the precipice there beyond the Cliff -Pasture.” - -“We know the place; it is three miles from here.” - -“And the dog has been often to the village, begging people to go there, -but he was only driven away and not listened to.” - -We remembered it, but hadn’t understood what he wanted. - -“He only wanted help for the man who had misused him, and he thought -only of that, and has had no food nor sought any. He has watched by his -master two nights. What do you think of your race? Is heaven reserved -for it, and this dog ruled out, as your teachers tell you? Can your -race add anything to this dog’s stock of morals and magnanimities?” He -spoke to the creature, who jumped up, eager and happy, and apparently -ready for orders and impatient to execute them. “Get some men; go with -the dog--he will show you that carrion; and take a priest along to -arrange about insurance, for death is near.” - -With the last word he vanished, to our sorrow and disappointment. We -got the men and Father Adolf, and we saw the man die. Nobody cared but -the dog; he mourned and grieved, and licked the dead face, and could -not be comforted. We buried him where he was, and without a coffin, -for he had no money, and no friend but the dog. If we had been an hour -earlier the priest would have been in time to send that poor creature -to heaven, but now he was gone down into the awful fires, to burn -forever. It seemed such a pity that in a world where so many people -have difficulty to put in their time, one little hour could not have -been spared for this poor creature who needed it so much, and to whom -it would have made the difference between eternal joy and eternal -pain. It gave an appalling idea of the value of an hour, and I thought -I could never waste one again without remorse and terror. Seppi was -depressed and grieved, and said it must be so much better to be a dog -and not run such awful risks. We took this one home with us and kept -him for our own. Seppi had a very good thought as we were walking -along, and it cheered us up and made us feel much better. He said the -dog had forgiven the man that had wronged him so, and maybe God would -accept that absolution. - -There was a very dull week, now, for Satan did not come, nothing much -was going on, and we boys could not venture to go and see Marget, -because the nights were moonlit and our parents might find us out if -we tried. But we came across Ursula a couple of times taking a walk in -the meadows beyond the river to air the cat, and we learned from her -that things were going well. She had natty new clothes on and bore a -prosperous look. The four groschen a day were arriving without a break, -but were not being spent for food and wine and such things--the cat -attended to all that. - -Marget was enduring her forsakenness and isolation fairly well, all -things considered, and was cheerful, by help of Wilhelm Meidling. She -spent an hour or two every night in the jail with her uncle, and had -fattened him up with the cat’s contributions. But she was curious to -know more about Philip Traum, and hoped I would bring him again. Ursula -was curious about him herself, and asked a good many questions about -his uncle. It made the boys laugh, for I had told them the nonsense -Satan had been stuffing her with. She got no satisfaction out of us, -our tongues being tied. - - [Illustration: MARGET WAS CHEERFUL BY HELP OF WILHELM MEIDLING] - -Ursula gave us a small item of information: money being plenty now, -she had taken on a servant to help about the house and run errands. -She tried to tell it in a commonplace, matter-of-course way, but she -was so set up by it and so vain of it that her pride in it leaked out -pretty plainly. It was beautiful to see her veiled delight in this -grandeur, poor old thing, but when we heard the name of the servant we -wondered if she had been altogether wise; for although we were young, -and often thoughtless, we had fairly good perception on some matters. -This boy was Gottfried Narr, a dull, good creature, with no harm in him -and nothing against him personally; still, he was under a cloud, and -properly so, for it had not been six months since a social blight had -mildewed the family--his grandmother had been burned as a witch. When -that kind of a malady is in the blood it does not always come out with -just one burning. Just now was not a good time for Ursula and Marget to -be having dealings with a member of such a family, for the witch-terror -had risen higher during the past year than it had ever reached in the -memory of the oldest villagers. The mere mention of a witch was almost -enough to frighten us out of our wits. This was natural enough, because -of late years there were more kinds of witches than there used to be; -in old times it had been only old women, but of late years they were -of all ages--even children of eight and nine; it was getting so that -anybody might turn out to be a familiar of the Devil--age and sex -hadn’t anything to do with it. In our little region we had tried to -extirpate the witches, but the more of them we burned the more of the -breed rose up in their places. - -Once, in a school for girls only ten miles away, the teachers found -that the back of one of the girls was all red and inflamed, and they -were greatly frightened, believing it to be the Devil’s marks. The girl -was scared, and begged them not to denounce her, and said it was only -fleas; but of course it would not do to let the matter rest there. -All the girls were examined, and eleven out of the fifty were badly -marked, the rest less so. A commission was appointed, but the eleven -only cried for their mothers and would not confess. Then they were shut -up, each by herself, in the dark, and put on black bread and water -for ten days and nights; and by that time they were haggard and wild, -and their eyes were dry and they did not cry any more, but only sat -and mumbled, and would not take the food. Then one of them confessed, -and said they had often ridden through the air on broomsticks to the -witches’ Sabbath, and in a bleak place high up in the mountains had -danced and drunk and caroused with several hundred other witches and -the Evil One, and all had conducted themselves in a scandalous way and -had reviled the priests and blasphemed God. That is what she said--not -in narrative form, for she was not able to remember any of the details -without having them called to her mind one after the other; but the -commission did that, for they knew just what questions to ask, they -being all written down for the use of witch-commissioners two centuries -before. They asked, “Did you do so and so?” and she always said yes, -and looked weary and tired, and took no interest in it. And so when -the other ten heard that this one confessed, they confessed, too, and -answered yes to the questions. Then they were burned at the stake all -together, which was just and right; and everybody went from all the -countryside to see it. I went, too; but when I saw that one of them was -a bonny, sweet girl I used to play with, and looked so pitiful there -chained to the stake, and her mother crying over her and devouring her -with kisses and clinging around her neck, and saying, “Oh, my God! oh, -my God!” it was too dreadful, and I went away. - -It was bitter cold weather when Gottfried’s grandmother was burned. -It was charged that she had cured bad headaches by kneading the -person’s head and neck with her fingers--as she said--but really by the -Devil’s help, as everybody knew. They were going to examine her, but -she stopped them, and confessed straight off that her power was from -the Devil. So they appointed to burn her next morning, early, in our -market-square. The officer who was to prepare the fire was there first, -and prepared it. She was there next--brought by the constables, who -left her and went to fetch another witch. Her family did not come with -her. They might be reviled, maybe stoned, if the people were excited. -I came, and gave her an apple. She was squatting at the fire, warming -herself and waiting; and her old lips and hands were blue with the -cold. A stranger came next. He was a traveler, passing through; and he -spoke to her gently, and, seeing nobody but me there to hear, said he -was sorry for her. And he asked if what she confessed was true, and she -said no. He looked surprised and still more sorry then, and asked her: - -“Then why did you confess?” - -“I am old and very poor,” she said, “and I work for my living. There -was no way but to confess. If I hadn’t they might have set me free. -That would ruin me, for no one would forget that I had been suspected -of being a witch, and so I would get no more work, and wherever I went -they would set the dogs on me. In a little while I would starve. The -fire is best; it is soon over. You have been good to me, you two, and I -thank you.” - -She snuggled closer to the fire, and put out her hands to warm them, -the snow-flakes descending soft and still on her old gray head and -making it white and whiter. The crowd was gathering now, and an egg -came flying and struck her in the eye, and broke and ran down her face. -There was a laugh at that. - -I told Satan all about the eleven girls and the old woman, once, but -it did not affect him. He only said it was the human race, and what -the human race did was of no consequence. And he said he had seen it -made; and it was not made of clay; it was made of mud--part of it -was, anyway. I knew what he meant by that--the Moral Sense. He saw -the thought in my head, and it tickled him and made him laugh. Then he -called a bullock out of a pasture and petted it and talked with it, and -said: - -“There--he wouldn’t drive children mad with hunger and fright and -loneliness, and then burn them for confessing to things invented for -them which had never happened. And neither would he break the hearts of -innocent, poor old women and make them afraid to trust themselves among -their own race; and he would not insult them in their death-agony. For -he is not besmirched with the Moral Sense, but is as the angels are, -and knows no wrong, and never does it.” - -Lovely as he was, Satan could be cruelly offensive when he chose; and -he always chose when the human race was brought to his attention. He -always turned up his nose at it, and never had a kind word for it. - -Well, as I was saying, we boys doubted if it was a good time for -Ursula to be hiring a member of the Narr family. We were right. When -the people found it out they were naturally indignant. And, moreover, -since Marget and Ursula hadn’t enough to eat themselves, where was -the money coming from to feed another mouth? That is what they wanted -to know; and in order to find out they stopped avoiding Gottfried and -began to seek his society and have sociable conversations with him. He -was pleased--not thinking any harm and not seeing the trap--and so he -talked innocently along, and was no discreeter than a cow. - -“Money!” he said; “they’ve got plenty of it. They pay me two groschen a -week, besides my keep. And they live on the fat of the land, I can tell -you; the prince himself can’t beat their table.” - -This astonishing statement was conveyed by the astrologer to Father -Adolf on a Sunday morning when he was returning from mass. He was -deeply moved, and said: - -“This must be looked into.” - -He said there must be witchcraft at the bottom of it, and told the -villagers to resume relations with Marget and Ursula in a private and -unostentatious way, and keep both eyes open. They were told to keep -their own counsel, and not rouse the suspicions of the household. The -villagers were at first a bit reluctant to enter such a dreadful place, -but the priest said they would be under his protection while there, and -no harm could come to them, particularly if they carried a trifle of -holy water along and kept their beads and crosses handy. This satisfied -them and made them willing to go; envy and malice made the baser sort -even eager to go. - -And so poor Marget began to have company again, and was as pleased as -a cat. She was like ’most anybody else--just human, and happy in her -prosperities and not averse from showing them off a little; and she was -humanly grateful to have the warm shoulder turned to her and be smiled -upon by her friends and the village again; for of all the hard things -to bear, to be cut by your neighbors and left in contemptuous solitude -is maybe the hardest. - -The bars were down, and we could all go there now, and we did--our -parents and all--day after day. The cat began to strain herself. -She provided the top of everything for those companies, and in -abundance--among them many a dish and many a wine which they had -not tasted before and which they had not even heard of except at -second-hand from the prince’s servants. And the tableware was much -above ordinary, too. - -Marget was troubled at times, and pursued Ursula with questions to -an uncomfortable degree; but Ursula stood her ground and stuck to it -that it was Providence, and said no word about the cat. Marget knew -that nothing was impossible to Providence, but she could not help -having doubts that this effort was from there, though she was afraid -to say so, lest disaster come of it. Witchcraft occurred to her, but -she put the thought aside, for this was before Gottfried joined the -household, and she knew Ursula was pious and a bitter hater of witches. -By the time Gottfried arrived Providence was established, unshakably -intrenched, and getting all the gratitude. The cat made no murmur, but -went on composedly improving in style and prodigality by experience. - -In any community, big or little, there is always a fair proportion -of people who are not malicious or unkind by nature, and who never -do unkind things except when they are overmastered by fear, or when -their self-interest is greatly in danger, or some such matter as that. -Eseldorf had its proportion of such people, and ordinarily their good -and gentle influence was felt, but these were not ordinary times--on -account of the witch-dread--and so we did not seem to have any gentle -and compassionate hearts left, to speak of. Every person was frightened -at the unaccountable state of things at Marget’s house, not doubting -that witchcraft was at the bottom of it, and fright frenzied their -reason. Naturally there were some who pitied Marget and Ursula for the -danger that was gathering about them, but naturally they did not say -so; it would not have been safe. So the others had it all their own -way, and there was none to advise the ignorant girl and the foolish -woman and warn them to modify their doings. We boys wanted to warn -them, but we backed down when it came to the pinch, being afraid. We -found that we were not manly enough nor brave enough to do a generous -action when there was a chance that it could get us into trouble. -Neither of us confessed this poor spirit to the others, but did as -other people would have done--dropped the subject and talked about -something else. And I knew we all felt mean, eating and drinking -Marget’s fine things along with those companies of spies, and petting -her and complimenting her with the rest, and seeing with self-reproach -how foolishly happy she was, and never saying a word to put her on her -guard. And, indeed, she was happy, and as proud as a princess, and so -grateful to have friends again. And all the time these people were -watching with all their eyes and reporting all they saw to Father Adolf. - -But he couldn’t make head or tail of the situation. There must be an -enchanter somewhere on the premises, but who was it? Marget was not -seen to do any jugglery, nor was Ursula, not yet Gottfried; and still -the wines and dainties never ran short, and a guest could not call -for a thing and not get it. To produce these effects was usual enough -with witches and enchanters--that part of it was not new; but to do -it without any incantations, or even any rumblings or earthquakes or -lightnings or apparitions--that was new, novel, wholly irregular. -There was nothing in the books like this. Enchanted things were always -unreal. Gold turned to dirt in an unenchanted atmosphere, food withered -away and vanished. But this test failed in the present case. The spies -brought samples: Father Adolf prayed over them, exorcised them, but -it did no good; they remained sound and real, they yielded to natural -decay only, and took the usual time to do it. - -Father Adolf was not merely puzzled, he was also exasperated; for -these evidences very nearly convinced him--privately--that there was -no witchcraft in the matter. It did not wholly convince him, for this -could be a new kind of witchcraft. There was a way to find out as to -this: if this prodigal abundance of provender was not brought in from -the outside, but produced on the premises, there was witchcraft, sure. - - - - -CHAPTER VII - - -Marget announced a party, and invited forty people; the date for it -was seven days away. This was a fine opportunity. Marget’s house -stood by itself, and it could be easily watched. All the week it was -watched night and day. Marget’s household went out and in as usual, -but they carried nothing in their hands, and neither they nor others -brought anything to the house. This was ascertained. Evidently rations -for forty people were not being fetched. If they were furnished any -sustenance it would have to be made on the premises. It was true that -Marget went out with a basket every evening, but the spies ascertained -that she always brought it back empty. - -The guests arrived at noon and filled the place. Father Adolf followed; -also, after a little, the astrologer, without invitation. The spies had -informed him that neither at the back nor the front had any parcels -been brought in. He entered, and found the eating and drinking going -on finely, and everything progressing in a lively and festive way. He -glanced around and perceived that many of the cooked delicacies and all -of the native and foreign fruits were of a perishable character, and -he also recognized that these were fresh and perfect. No apparitions, -no incantations, no thunder. That settled it. This was witchcraft. And -not only that, but of a new kind--a kind never dreamed of before. It -was a prodigious power, an illustrious power; he resolved to discover -its secret. The announcement of it would resound throughout the -world, penetrate to the remotest lands, paralyze all the nations with -amazement--and carry his name with it, and make him renowned forever. -It was a wonderful piece of luck, a splendid piece of luck; the glory -of it made him dizzy. - -All the house made room for him; Marget politely seated him; Ursula -ordered Gottfried to bring a special table for him. Then she decked it -and furnished it, and asked for his orders. - -“Bring me what you will,” he said. - -The two servants brought supplies from the pantry, together with white -wine and red--a bottle of each. The astrologer, who very likely had -never seen such delicacies before, poured out a beaker of red wine, -drank it off, poured another, then began to eat with a grand appetite. - -I was not expecting Satan, for it was more than a week since I had seen -or heard of him, but now he came in--I knew it by the feel, though -people were in the way and I could not see him. I heard him apologizing -for intruding; and he was going away, but Marget urged him to stay, -and he thanked her and stayed. She brought him along, introducing him -to the girls, and to Meidling, and to some of the elders; and there -was quite a rustle of whispers: “It’s the young stranger we hear so -much about and can’t get sight of, he is away so much.” “Dear, dear, -but he is beautiful--what is his name?” “Philip Traum.” “Ah, it fits -him!” (You see, “Traum” is German for “Dream.”) “What does he do?” -“Studying for the ministry, they say.” “His face is his fortune--he’ll -be a cardinal some day.” “Where is his home?” “Away down somewhere in -the tropics, they say--has a rich uncle down there.” And so on. He -made his way at once; everybody was anxious to know him and talk with -him. Everybody noticed how cool and fresh it was, all of a sudden, and -wondered at it, for they could see that the sun was beating down the -same as before, outside, and the sky was clear of clouds, but no one -guessed the reason, of course. - -The astrologer had drunk his second beaker; he poured out a third. -He set the bottle down, and by accident overturned it. He seized it -before much was spilled, and held it up to the light, saying, “What a -pity--it is royal wine.” Then his face lighted with joy or triumph, or -something, and he said, “Quick! Bring a bowl.” - -It was brought--a four-quart one. He took up that two-pint bottle and -began to pour; went on pouring, the red liquor gurgling and gushing -into the white bowl and rising higher and higher up its sides, -everybody staring and holding their breath--and presently the bowl was -full to the brim. - -“Look at the bottle,” he said, holding it up; “it is full yet!” I -glanced at Satan, and in that moment he vanished. Then Father Adolf -rose up, flushed and excited, crossed himself, and began to thunder in -his great voice, “This house is bewitched and accursed!” People began -to cry and shriek and crowd toward the door. “I summon this detected -household to--” - -His words were cut off short. His face became red, then purple, but -he could not utter another sound. Then I saw Satan, a transparent -film, melt into the astrologer’s body; then the astrologer put up his -hand, and apparently in his own voice said, “Wait--remain where you -are.” All stopped where they stood. “Bring a funnel!” Ursula brought -it, trembling and scared, and he stuck it in the bottle and took up -the great bowl and began to pour the wine back, the people gazing and -dazed with astonishment, for they knew the bottle was already full -before he began. He emptied the whole of the bowl into the bottle, then -smiled out over the room, chuckled, and said, indifferently: “It is -nothing--anybody can do it! With my powers I can even do much more.” - - [Illustration: THE ASTROLOGER EMPTIED THE WHOLE OF THE BOWL - INTO THE BOTTLE] - -A frightened cry burst out everywhere, “Oh, my God, he is possessed!” -and there was a tumultuous rush for the door which swiftly emptied -the house of all who did not belong in it except us boys and Meidling. -We boys knew the secret, and would have told it if we could, but we -couldn’t. We were very thankful to Satan for furnishing that good help -at the needful time. - -Marget was pale, and crying; Meidling looked kind of petrified; Ursula -the same; but Gottfried was the worst--he couldn’t stand, he was so -weak and scared. For he was of a witch family, you know, and it would -be bad for him to be suspected. Agnes came loafing in, looking pious -and unaware, and wanted to rub up against Ursula and be petted, but -Ursula was afraid of her and shrank away from her, but pretending she -was not meaning any incivility, for she knew very well it wouldn’t -answer to have strained relations with that kind of a cat. But we boys -took Agnes and petted her, for Satan would not have befriended her if -he had not had a good opinion of her, and that was indorsement enough -for us. He seemed to trust anything that hadn’t the Moral Sense. - -Outside, the guests, panic-stricken, scattered in every direction and -fled in a pitiable state of terror; and such a tumult as they made with -their running and sobbing and shrieking and shouting that soon all the -village came flocking from their houses to see what had happened, and -they thronged the street and shouldered and jostled one another in -excitement and fright; and then Father Adolf appeared, and they fell -apart in two walls like the cloven Red Sea, and presently down this -lane the astrologer came striding and mumbling, and where he passed -the lanes surged back in packed masses, and fell silent with awe, and -their eyes stared and their breasts heaved, and several women fainted; -and when he was gone by the crowd swarmed together and followed him -at a distance, talking excitedly and asking questions and finding out -the facts. Finding out the facts and passing them on to others, with -improvements--improvements which soon enlarged the bowl of wine to a -barrel, and made the one bottle hold it all and yet remain empty to the -last. - -When the astrologer reached the market-square he went straight to a -juggler, fantastically dressed, who was keeping three brass balls in -the air, and took them from him and faced around upon the approaching -crowd and said: “This poor clown is ignorant of his art. Come forward -and see an expert perform.” - -So saying, he tossed the balls up one after another and set them -whirling in a slender bright oval in the air, and added another, -then another and another, and soon--no one seeing whence he got -them--adding, adding, adding, the oval lengthening all the time, his -hands moving so swiftly that they were just a web or a blur and not -distinguishable as hands; and such as counted said there were now a -hundred balls in the air. The spinning great oval reached up twenty -feet in the air and was a shining and glinting and wonderful sight. -Then he folded his arms and told the balls to go on spinning without -his help--and they did it. After a couple of minutes he said, “There, -that will do,” and the oval broke and came crashing down, and the balls -scattered abroad and rolled every whither. And wherever one of them -came the people fell back in dread, and no one would touch it. It made -him laugh, and he scoffed at the people and called them cowards and old -women. Then he turned and saw the tight-rope, and said foolish people -were daily wasting their money to see a clumsy and ignorant varlet -degrade that beautiful art; now they should see the work of a master. -With that he made a spring into the air and lit firm on his feet on -the rope. Then he hopped the whole length of it back and forth on one -foot, with his hands clasped over his eyes; and next he began to throw -somersaults, both backward and forward, and threw twenty-seven. - -The people murmured, for the astrologer was old, and always before had -been halting of movement and at times even lame, but he was nimble -enough now and went on with his antics in the liveliest manner. Finally -he sprang lightly down and walked away, and passed up the road and -around the corner and disappeared. Then that great, pale, silent, solid -crowd drew a deep breath and looked into one another’s faces as if -they said: “Was it real? Did you see it, or was it only I--and I was -dreaming?” Then they broke into a low murmur of talking, and fell apart -in couples, and moved toward their homes, still talking in that awed -way, with faces close together and laying a hand on an arm and making -other such gestures as people make when they have been deeply impressed -by something. - -We boys followed behind our fathers, and listened, catching all we -could of what they said; and when they sat down in our house and -continued their talk they still had us for company. They were in a sad -mood, for it was certain, they said, that disaster for the village must -follow this awful visitation of witches and devils. Then my father -remembered that Father Adolf had been struck dumb at the moment of his -denunciation. - -“They have not ventured to lay their hands upon an anointed servant of -God before,” he said: “and how they could have dared it this time I -cannot make out, for he wore his crucifix. Isn’t it so?” - -“Yes,” said the others, “we saw it.” - -“It is serious, friends, it is very serious. Always before, we had a -protection. It has failed.” - -The others shook, as with a sort of chill, and muttered those words -over--“It has failed.” “God has forsaken us.” - -“It is true,” said Seppi Wohlmeyer’s father; “there is nowhere to look -for help.” - -“The people will realize this,” said Nikolaus’s father, the judge, -“and despair will take away their courage and their energies. We have -indeed fallen upon evil times.” - -He sighed, and Wohlmeyer said, in a troubled voice: “The report of it -all will go about the country, and our village will be shunned as being -under the displeasure of God. The Golden Stag will know hard times.” - -“True, neighbor,” said my father; “all of us will suffer--all in -repute, many in estate. And, good God!--” - -“What is it?” - -“That can come--to finish us!” - -“Name it--um Gottes Willen!” - -“The Interdict!” - -It smote like a thunderclap, and they were like to swoon with the -terror of it. Then the dread of this calamity roused their energies, -and they stopped brooding and began to consider ways to avert it. They -discussed this, that, and the other way, and talked till the afternoon -was far spent, then confessed that at present they could arrive at no -decision. So they parted sorrowfully, with oppressed hearts which were -filled with bodings. - -While they were saying their parting words I slipped out and set my -course for Marget’s house to see what was happening there. I met many -people, but none of them greeted me. It ought to have been surprising, -but it was not, for they were so distraught with fear and dread that -they were not in their right minds, I think; they were white and -haggard, and walked like persons in a dream, their eyes open but seeing -nothing, their lips moving but uttering nothing, and worriedly clasping -and unclasping their hands without knowing it. - -At Marget’s it was like a funeral. She and Wilhelm sat together on the -sofa, but said nothing, and not even holding hands. Both were steeped -in gloom, and Marget’s eyes were red from the crying she had been -doing. She said: - -“I have been begging him to go, and come no more, and so save himself -alive. I cannot bear to be his murderer. This house is bewitched, and -no inmate will escape the fire. But he will not go, and he will be lost -with the rest.” - -Wilhelm said he would not go; if there was danger for her, his place -was by her, and there he would remain. Then she began to cry again, -and it was all so mournful that I wished I had stayed away. There was -a knock, now, and Satan came in, fresh and cheery and beautiful, and -brought that winy atmosphere of his and changed the whole thing. He -never said a word about what had been happening, nor about the awful -fears which were freezing the blood in the hearts of the community, -but began to talk and rattle on about all manner of gay and pleasant -things; and next about music--an artful stroke which cleared away -the remnant of Marget’s depression and brought her spirits and her -interests broad awake. She had not heard any one talk so well and so -knowingly on that subject before, and she was so uplifted by it and so -charmed that what she was feeling lit up her face and came out in her -words; and Wilhelm noticed it and did not look as pleased as he ought -to have done. And next Satan branched off into poetry, and recited -some, and did it well, and Marget was charmed again; and again Wilhelm -was not as pleased as he ought to have been, and this time Marget -noticed it and was remorseful. - -I fell asleep to pleasant music that night--the patter of rain upon the -panes and the dull growling of distant thunder. Away in the night Satan -came and roused me and said: “Come with me. Where shall we go?” - -“Anywhere--so it is with you.” - -Then there was a fierce glare of sunlight, and he said, “This is China.” - -That was a grand surprise, and made me sort of drunk with vanity and -gladness to think I had come so far--so much, much farther than anybody -else in our village, including Bartel Sperling, who had such a great -opinion of his travels. We buzzed around over that empire for more than -half an hour, and saw the whole of it. It was wonderful, the spectacles -we saw; and some were beautiful, others too horrible to think. For -instance--However, I may go into that by and by, and also why Satan -chose China for this excursion instead of another place; it would -interrupt my tale to do it now. Finally we stopped flitting and lit. - -We sat upon a mountain commanding a vast landscape of mountain-range -and gorge and valley and plain and river, with cities and villages -slumbering in the sunlight, and a glimpse of blue sea on the farther -verge. It was a tranquil and dreamy picture, beautiful to the eye -and restful to the spirit. If we could only make a change like that -whenever we wanted to, the world would be easier to live in than it is, -for change of scene shifts the mind’s burdens to the other shoulder and -banishes old, shop-worn wearinesses from mind and body both. - -We talked together, and I had the idea of trying to reform Satan and -persuade him to lead a better life. I told him about all those things -he had been doing, and begged him to be more considerate and stop -making people unhappy. I said I knew he did not mean any harm, but that -he ought to stop and consider the possible consequences of a thing -before launching it in that impulsive and random way of his; then he -would not make so much trouble. He was not hurt by this plain speech; -he only looked amused and surprised, and said: - -“What? I do random things? Indeed, I never do. I stop and consider -possible consequences? Where is the need? I know what the consequences -are going to be--always.” - -“Oh, Satan, then how could you do these things?” - -“Well, I will tell you, and you must understand if you can. You -belong to a singular race. Every man is a suffering-machine and -a happiness-machine combined. The two functions work together -harmoniously, with a fine and delicate precision, on the give-and-take -principle. For every happiness turned out in the one department the -other stands ready to modify it with a sorrow or a pain--maybe a -dozen. In most cases the man’s life is about equally divided between -happiness and unhappiness. When this is not the case the unhappiness -predominates--always; never the other. Sometimes a man’s make and -disposition are such that his misery-machine is able to do nearly -all the business. Such a man goes through life almost ignorant of -what happiness is. Everything he touches, everything he does, brings -a misfortune upon him. You have seen such people? To that kind of -a person life is not an advantage, is it? It is only a disaster. -Sometimes for an hour’s happiness a man’s machinery makes him pay years -of misery. Don’t you know that? It happens every now and then. I will -give you a case or two presently. Now the people of your village are -nothing to me--you know that, don’t you?” - -I did not like to speak out too flatly, so I said I had suspected it. - -“Well, it is true that they are nothing to me. It is not possible -that they should be. The difference between them and me is abysmal, -immeasurable. They have no intellect.” - -“No intellect?” - -“Nothing that resembles it. At a future time I will examine what man -calls his mind and give you the details of that chaos, then you will -see and understand. Men have nothing in common with me--there is no -point of contact; they have foolish little feelings and foolish little -vanities and impertinences and ambitions; their foolish little life is -but a laugh, a sigh, and extinction; and they have no sense. Only the -Moral Sense. I will show you what I mean. Here is a red spider, not so -big as a pin’s head. Can you imagine an elephant being interested in -him--caring whether he is happy or isn’t, or whether he is wealthy or -poor, or whether his sweetheart returns his love or not, or whether -his mother is sick or well, or whether he is looked up to in society -or not, or whether his enemies will smite him or his friends desert -him, or whether his hopes will suffer blight or his political ambitions -fail, or whether he shall die in the bosom of his family or neglected -and despised in a foreign land? These things can never be important to -the elephant; they are nothing to him; he cannot shrink his sympathies -to the microscopic size of them. Man is to me as the red spider is to -the elephant. The elephant has nothing against the spider--he cannot -get down to that remote level; I have nothing against man. The elephant -is indifferent; I am indifferent. The elephant would not take the -trouble to do the spider an ill turn; if he took the notion he might -do him a good turn, if it came in his way and cost nothing. I have done -men good service, but no ill turns. - -“The elephant lives a century, the red spider a day; in power, -intellect, and dignity the one creature is separated from the other -by a distance which is simply astronomical. Yet in these, as in all -qualities, man is immeasurably further below me than is the wee spider -below the elephant. - -“Man’s mind clumsily and tediously and laboriously patches little -trivialities together and gets a result--such as it is. My mind -creates! Do you get the force of that? Creates anything it desires--and -in a moment. Creates without material. Creates fluids, solids, -colors--anything, everything--out of the airy nothing which is called -Thought. A man imagines a silk thread, imagines a machine to make it, -imagines a picture, then by weeks of labor embroiders it on canvas -with the thread. I think the whole thing, and in a moment it is before -you--created. - -“I think a poem, music, the record of a game of chess--anything--and -it is there. This is the immortal mind--nothing is beyond its reach. -Nothing can obstruct my vision; the rocks are transparent to me, and -darkness is daylight. I do not need to open a book; I take the whole -of its contents into my mind at a single glance, through the cover; -and in a million years I could not forget a single word of it, or its -place in the volume. Nothing goes on in the skull of man, bird, fish, -insect, or other creature which can be hidden from me. I pierce the -learned man’s brain with a single glance, and the treasures which cost -him threescore years to accumulate are mine; he can forget, and he does -forget, but I retain. - -“Now, then, I perceive by your thoughts that you are understanding -me fairly well. Let us proceed. Circumstances might so fall out that -the elephant could like the spider--supposing he can see it--but he -could not love it. His love is for his own kind--for his equals. An -angel’s love is sublime, adorable, divine, beyond the imagination of -man--infinitely beyond it! But it is limited to his own august order. -If it fell upon one of your race for only an instant, it would consume -its object to ashes. No, we cannot love men, but we can be harmlessly -indifferent to them; we can also like them, sometimes. I like you and -the boys, I like Father Peter, and for your sakes I am doing all these -things for the villagers.” - -He saw that I was thinking a sarcasm, and he explained his position. - -“I have wrought well for the villagers, though it does not look like -it on the surface. Your race never know good fortune from ill. They -are always mistaking the one for the other. It is because they cannot -see into the future. What I am doing for the villagers will bear good -fruit some day; in some cases to themselves; in others, to unborn -generations of men. No one will ever know that I was the cause, but -it will be none the less true, for all that. Among you boys you have -a game: you stand a row of bricks on end a few inches apart; you push -a brick, it knocks its neighbor over, the neighbor knocks over the -next brick--and so on till all the row is prostrate. That is human -life. A child’s first act knocks over the initial brick, and the rest -will follow inexorably. If you could see into the future, as I can, -you would see everything that was going to happen to that creature; -for nothing can change the order of its life after the first event -has determined it. That is, nothing will change it, because each act -unfailingly begets an act, that act begets another, and so on to the -end, and the seer can look forward down the line and see just when each -act is to have birth, from cradle to grave.” - -“Does God order the career?” - -“Foreordain it? No. The man’s circumstances and environment order it. -His first act determines the second and all that follow after. But -suppose, for argument’s sake, that the man should skip one of these -acts; an apparently trifling one, for instance; suppose that it had -been appointed that on a certain day, at a certain hour and minute and -second and fraction of a second he should go to the well, and he didn’t -go. That man’s career would change utterly, from that moment; thence -to the grave it would be wholly different from the career which his -first act as a child had arranged for him. Indeed, it might be that -if he had gone to the well he would have ended his career on a throne, -and that omitting to do it would set him upon a career that would lead -to beggary and a pauper’s grave. For instance: if at any time--say in -boyhood--Columbus had skipped the triflingest little link in the chain -of acts projected and made inevitable by his first childish act, it -would have changed his whole subsequent life, and he would have become -a priest and died obscure in an Italian village, and America would -not have been discovered for two centuries afterward. I know this. To -skip any one of the billion acts in Columbus’s chain would have wholly -changed his life. I have examined his billion of possible careers, and -in only one of them occurs the discovery of America. You people do not -suspect that all of your acts are of one size and importance, but it is -true; to snatch at an appointed fly is as big with fate for you as in -any other appointed act--” - -“As the conquering of a continent, for instance?” - -“Yes. Now, then, no man ever does drop a link--the thing has never -happened! Even when he is trying to make up his mind as to whether he -will do a thing or not, that itself is a link, an act, and has its -proper place in his chain; and when he finally decides an act, that -also was the thing which he was absolutely certain to do. You see, now, -that a man will never drop a link in his chain. He cannot. If he made -up his mind to try, that project would itself be an unavoidable link--a -thought bound to occur to him at that precise moment, and made certain -by the first act of his babyhood.” - -It seemed so dismal! - -“He is a prisoner for life,” I said sorrowfully, “and cannot get free.” - -“No, of himself he cannot get away from the consequences of his first -childish act. But I can free him.” - -I looked up wistfully. - -“I have changed the careers of a number of your villagers.” - -I tried to thank him, but found it difficult, and let it drop. - -“I shall make some other changes. You know that little Lisa Brandt?” - -“Oh yes, everybody does. My mother says she is so sweet and so lovely -that she is not like any other child. She says she will be the pride of -the village when she grows up; and its idol, too, just as she is now.” - -“I shall change her future.” - -“Make it better?” I asked. - -“Yes. And I will change the future of Nikolaus.” - -I was glad, this time, and said, “I don’t need to ask about his case; -you will be sure to do generously by him.” - -“It is my intention.” - -Straight off I was building that great future of Nicky’s in my -imagination, and had already made a renowned general of him and -hofmeister at the court, when I noticed that Satan was waiting for me -to get ready to listen again. I was ashamed of having exposed my cheap -imaginings to him, and was expecting some sarcasms, but it did not -happen. He proceeded with his subject: - -“Nicky’s appointed life is sixty-two years.” - -“That’s grand!” I said. - -“Lisa’s, thirty-six. But, as I told you, I shall change their lives -and those ages. Two minutes and a quarter from now Nikolaus will wake -out of his sleep and find the rain blowing in. It was appointed that -he should turn over and go to sleep again. But I have appointed that -he shall get up and close the window first. That trifle will change -his career entirely. He will rise in the morning two minutes later -than the chain of his life had appointed him to rise. By consequence, -thenceforth nothing will ever happen to him in accordance with the -details of the old chain.” He took out his watch and sat looking at it -a few moments, then said: “Nikolaus has risen to close the window. His -life is changed, his new career has begun. There will be consequences.” - -It made me feel creepy; it was uncanny. - -“But for this change certain things would happen twelve days from now. -For instance, Nikolaus would save Lisa from drowning. He would arrive -on the scene at exactly the right moment--four minutes past ten, the -long-ago appointed instant of time--and the water would be shoal, the -achievement easy and certain. But he will arrive some seconds too late, -now; Lisa will have struggled into deeper water. He will do his best, -but both will drown.” - -“Oh, Satan! oh, dear Satan!” I cried, with the tears rising in my eyes, -“save them! Don’t let it happen. I can’t bear to lose Nikolaus, he is -my loving playmate and friend; and think of Lisa’s poor mother!” - -I clung to him and begged and pleaded, but he was not moved. He made me -sit down again, and told me I must hear him out. - -“I have changed Nikolaus’s life, and this has changed Lisa’s. If I had -not done this, Nikolaus would save Lisa, then he would catch cold from -his drenching; one of your race’s fantastic and desolating scarlet -fevers would follow, with pathetic after-effects; for forty-six years -he would lie in his bed a paralytic log, deaf, dumb, blind, and praying -night and day for the blessed relief of death. Shall I change his life -back?” - -“Oh no! Oh, not for the world! In charity and pity leave it as it is.” - -“It is best so. I could not have changed any other link in his life -and done him so good a service. He had a billion possible careers, -but not one of them was worth living; they were charged full with -miseries and disasters. But for my intervention he would do his brave -deed twelve days from now--a deed begun and ended in six minutes--and -get for all reward those forty-six years of sorrow and suffering I told -you of. It is one of the cases I was thinking of awhile ago when I said -that sometimes an act which brings the actor an hour’s happiness and -self-satisfaction is paid for--or punished--by years of suffering.” - -I wondered what poor little Lisa’s early death would save her from. He -answered the thought: - -“From ten years of pain and slow recovery from an accident, and then -from nineteen years’ pollution, shame, depravity, crime, ending with -death at the hands of the executioner. Twelve days hence she will die; -her mother would save her life if she could. Am I not kinder than her -mother?” - -“Yes--oh, indeed yes; and wiser.” - -“Father Peter’s case is coming on presently. He will be acquitted, -through unassailable proofs of his innocence.” - -“Why, Satan, how can that be? Do you really think it?” - -“Indeed, I know it. His good name will be restored, and the rest of his -life will be happy.” - -“I can believe it. To restore his good name will have that effect.” - -“His happiness will not proceed from that cause. I shall change his -life that day, for his good. He will never know his good name has been -restored.” - -In my mind--and modestly--I asked for particulars, but Satan paid no -attention to my thought. Next, my mind wandered to the astrologer, and -I wondered where he might be. - -“In the moon,” said Satan, with a fleeting sound which I believed was -a chuckle. “I’ve got him on the cold side of it, too. He doesn’t know -where he is, and is not having a pleasant time; still, it is good -enough for him, a good place for his star studies. I shall need him -presently; then I shall bring him back and possess him again. He has -a long and cruel and odious life before him, but I will change that, -for I have no feeling against him and am quite willing to do him a -kindness. I think I shall get him burned.” - -He had such strange notions of kindness! But angels are made so, and do -not know any better. Their ways are not like our ways; and, besides, -human beings are nothing to them; they think they are only freaks. It -seems to me odd that he should put the astrologer so far away; he could -have dumped him in Germany just as well, where he would be handy. - -“Far away?” said Satan. “To me no place is far away; distance does not -exist for me. The sun is less than a hundred million miles from here, -and the light that is falling upon us has taken eight minutes to come; -but I can make that flight, or any other, in a fraction of time so -minute that it cannot be measured by a watch. I have but to think the -journey, and it is accomplished.” - -I held out my hand and said, “The light lies upon it; think it into a -glass of wine, Satan.” - -He did it. I drank the wine. - -“Break the glass,” he said. - -I broke it. - -“There--you see it is real. The villagers thought the brass balls were -magic stuff and as perishable as smoke. They were afraid to touch them. -You are a curious lot--your race. But come along; I have business. I -will put you to bed.” Said and done. Then he was gone; but his voice -came back to me through the rain and darkness saying, “Yes, tell Seppi, -but no other.” - -It was the answer to my thought. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - - -Sleep would not come. It was not because I was proud of my travels and -excited about having been around the big world to China, and feeling -contemptuous of Bartel Sperling, “the traveler,” as he called himself, -and looked down upon us others because he had been to Vienna once and -was the only Eseldorf boy who had made such a journey and seen the -world’s wonders. At another time that would have kept me awake, but -it did not affect me now. No, my mind was filled with Nikolaus, my -thoughts ran upon him only, and the good days we had seen together at -romps and frolics in the woods and the fields and the river in the long -summer days, and skating and sliding in the winter when our parents -thought we were in school. And now he was going out of this young life, -and the summers and winters would come and go, and we others would rove -and play as before, but his place would be vacant; we should see him -no more. To-morrow he would not suspect, but would be as he had always -been, and it would shock me to hear him laugh, and see him do lightsome -and frivolous things, for to me he would be a corpse, with waxen hands -and dull eyes, and I should see the shroud around his face; and next -day he would not suspect, nor the next, and all the time his handful of -days would be wasting swiftly away and that awful thing coming nearer -and nearer, his fate closing steadily around him and no one knowing it -but Seppi and me. Twelve days--only twelve days. It was awful to think -of. I noticed that in my thoughts I was not calling him by his familiar -names, Nick and Nicky, but was speaking of him by his full name, and -reverently, as one speaks of the dead. Also, as incident after incident -of our comradeship came thronging into my mind out of the past, I -noticed that they were mainly cases where I had wronged him or hurt -him, and they rebuked me and reproached me, and my heart was wrung with -remorse, just as it is when we remember our unkindnesses to friends who -have passed beyond the veil, and we wish we could have them back again, -if only for a moment, so that we could go on our knees to them and say, -“Have pity, and forgive.” - -Once when we were nine years old he went a long errand of nearly two -miles for the fruiterer, who gave him a splendid big apple for reward, -and he was flying home with it, almost beside himself with astonishment -and delight, and I met him, and he let me look at the apple, not -thinking of treachery, and I ran off with it, eating it as I ran, he -following me and begging; and when he overtook me I offered him the -core, which was all that was left; and I laughed. Then he turned away, -crying, and said he had meant to give it to his little sister. That -smote me, for she was slowly getting well of a sickness, and it would -have been a proud moment for him, to see her joy and surprise and have -her caresses. But I was ashamed to say I was ashamed, and only said -something rude and mean, to pretend I did not care, and he made no -reply in words, but there was a wounded look in his face as he turned -away toward his home which rose before me many times in after years, in -the night, and reproached me and made me ashamed again. It had grown -dim in my mind, by and by, then it disappeared; but it was back now, -and not dim. - -Once at school, when we were eleven, I upset my ink and spoiled four -copy-books, and was in danger of severe punishment; but I put it upon -him, and he got the whipping. - -And only last year I had cheated him in a trade, giving him a large -fish-hook which was partly broken through for three small sound ones. -The first fish he caught broke the hook, but he did not know I was -blamable, and he refused to take back one of the small hooks which my -conscience forced me to offer him, but said, “A trade is a trade; the -hook was bad, but that was not your fault.” - -No, I could not sleep. These little, shabby wrongs upbraided me and -tortured me, and with a pain much sharper than one feels when the -wrongs have been done to the living. Nikolaus was living, but no -matter; he was to me as one already dead. The wind was still moaning -about the eaves, the rain still pattering upon the panes. - -In the morning I sought out Seppi and told him. It was down by the -river. His lips moved, but he did not say anything, he only looked -dazed and stunned, and his face turned very white. He stood like that a -few moments, the tears welling into his eyes, then he turned away and -I locked my arm in his and we walked along thinking, but not speaking. -We crossed the bridge and wandered through the meadows and up among the -hills and the woods, and at last the talk came and flowed freely, and -it was all about Nikolaus and was a recalling of the life we had lived -with him. And every now and then Seppi said, as if to himself: - -“Twelve days!--less than twelve.” - -We said we must be with him all the time; we must have all of him we -could; the days were precious now. Yet we did not go to seek him. It -would be like meeting the dead, and we were afraid. We did not say it, -but that was what we were feeling. And so it gave us a shock when we -turned a curve and came upon Nikolaus face to face. He shouted, gaily: - -“Hi-hi! What is the matter? Have you seen a ghost?” - -We couldn’t speak, but there was no occasion; he was willing to talk -for us all, for he had just seen Satan and was in high spirits about -it. Satan had told him about our trip to China, and he had begged -Satan to take him a journey, and Satan had promised. It was to be a -far journey, and wonderful and beautiful; and Nikolaus had begged him -to take us, too, but he said no, he would take us some day, maybe, but -not now. Satan would come for him on the 13th, and Nikolaus was already -counting the hours, he was so impatient. - -That was the fatal day. We were already counting the hours, too. - -We wandered many a mile, always following paths which had been our -favorites from the days when we were little, and always we talked -about the old times. All the blitheness was with Nikolaus; we others -could not shake off our depression. Our tone toward Nikolaus was so -strangely gentle and tender and yearning that he noticed it, and was -pleased; and we were constantly doing him deferential little offices of -courtesy, and saying, “Wait, let me do that for you,” and that pleased -him, too. I gave him seven fish-hooks--all I had--and made him take -them; and Seppi gave him his new knife and a humming-top painted red -and yellow--atonements for swindles practised upon him formerly, as I -learned later, and probably no longer remembered by Nikolaus now. These -things touched him, and he said he could not have believed that we -loved him so; and his pride in it and gratefulness for it cut us to the -heart, we were so undeserving of them. When we parted at last, he was -radiant, and said he had never had such a happy day. - -As we walked along homeward, Seppi said, “We always prized him, but -never so much as now, when we are going to lose him.” - -Next day and every day we spent all of our spare time with Nikolaus; -and also added to it time which we (and he) stole from work and other -duties, and this cost the three of us some sharp scoldings, and some -threats of punishment. Every morning two of us woke with a start and a -shudder, saying, as the days flew along, “Only ten days left”; “only -nine days left”; “only eight”; “only seven.” Always it was narrowing. -Always Nikolaus was gay and happy, and always puzzled because we were -not. He wore his invention to the bone trying to invent ways to cheer -us up, but it was only a hollow success; he could see that our jollity -had no heart in it, and that the laughs we broke into came up against -some obstruction or other and suffered damage and decayed into a sigh. -He tried to find out what the matter was, so that he could help us out -of our trouble or make it lighter by sharing it with us; so we had to -tell many lies to deceive him and appease him. - -But the most distressing thing of all was that he was always making -plans, and often they went beyond the 13th! Whenever that happened it -made us groan in spirit. All his mind was fixed upon finding some way -to conquer our depression and cheer us up; and at last, when he had -but three days to live, he fell upon the right idea and was jubilant -over it--a boys-and-girls’ frolic and dance in the woods, up there -where we first met Satan, and this was to occur on the 14th. It was -ghastly, for that was his funeral day. We couldn’t venture to protest; -it would only have brought a “Why?” which we could not answer. He -wanted us to help him invite his guests, and we did it--one can refuse -nothing to a dying friend. But it was dreadful, for really we were -inviting them to his funeral. - -It was an awful eleven days; and yet, with a lifetime stretching back -between to-day and then, they are still a grateful memory to me, and -beautiful. In effect they were days of companionship with one’s sacred -dead, and I have known no comradeship that was so close or so precious. -We clung to the hours and the minutes, counting them as they wasted -away, and parting with them with that pain and bereavement which a -miser feels who sees his hoard filched from him coin by coin by robbers -and is helpless to prevent it. - -When the evening of the last day came we stayed out too long; Seppi and -I were in fault for that; we could not bear to part with Nikolaus; so -it was very late when we left him at his door. We lingered near awhile, -listening; and that happened which we were fearing. His father gave him -the promised punishment, and we heard his shrieks. But we listened -only a moment, then hurried away, remorseful for this thing which we -had caused. And sorry for the father, too; our thought being, “If he -only knew--if he only knew!” - -In the morning Nikolaus did not meet us at the appointed place, so we -went to his home to see what the matter was. His mother said: - -“His father is out of all patience with these goings-on, and will not -have any more of it. Half the time when Nick is needed he is not to be -found; then it turns out that he has been gadding around with you two. -His father gave him a flogging last night. It always grieved me before, -and many’s the time I have begged him off and saved him, but this time -he appealed to me in vain, for I was out of patience myself.” - -“I wish you had saved him just this one time,” I said, my voice -trembling a little; “it would ease a pain in your heart to remember it -some day.” - -She was ironing at the time, and her back was partly toward me. She -turned about with a startled or wondering look in her face and said, -“What do you mean by that?” - -I was not prepared, and didn’t know anything to say; so it was awkward, -for she kept looking at me; but Seppi was alert and spoke up: - -“Why, of course it would be pleasant to remember, for the very reason -we were out so late was that Nikolaus got to telling how good you are -to him, and how he never got whipped when you were by to save him; and -he was so full of it, and we were so full of the interest of it, that -none of us noticed how late it was getting.” - -“Did he say that? Did he?” and she put her apron to her eyes. - -“You can ask Theodor--he will tell you the same.” - -“It is a dear, good lad, my Nick,” she said. “I am sorry I let him get -whipped; I will never do it again. To think--all the time I was sitting -here last night, fretting and angry at him, he was loving me and -praising me! Dear, dear, if we could only know! Then we shouldn’t ever -go wrong; but we are only poor, dumb beasts groping around and making -mistakes. I sha’n’t ever think of last night without a pang.” - -She was like all the rest; it seemed as if nobody could open a mouth, -in these wretched days, without saying something that made us shiver. -They were “groping around,” and did not know what true, sorrowfully -true things they were saying by accident. - -Seppi asked if Nikolaus might go out with us. - -“I am sorry,” she answered, “but he can’t. To punish him further, his -father doesn’t allow him to go out of the house to-day.” - -We had a great hope! I saw it in Seppi’s eyes. We thought, “If he -cannot leave the house, he cannot be drowned.” Seppi asked, to make -sure: - -“Must he stay in all day, or only the morning?” - -“All day. It’s such a pity, too; it’s a beautiful day, and he is so -unused to being shut up. But he is busy planning his party, and maybe -that is company for him. I do hope he isn’t too lonesome.” - -Seppi saw that in her eye which emboldened him to ask if we might go up -and help him pass his time. - -“And welcome!” she said, right heartily. “Now I call that real -friendship, when you might be abroad in the fields and the woods, -having a happy time. You are good boys, I’ll allow that, though you -don’t always find satisfactory ways of improving it. Take these -cakes--for yourselves--and give him this one, from his mother.” - -The first thing we noticed when we entered Nikolaus’s room was the -time--a quarter to 10. Could that be correct? Only such a few minutes -to live! I felt a contraction at my heart. Nikolaus jumped up and gave -us a glad welcome. He was in good spirits over his plannings for his -party and had not been lonesome. - -“Sit down,” he said, “and look at what I’ve been doing. And I’ve -finished a kite that you will say is a beauty. It’s drying, in the -kitchen; I’ll fetch it.” - -He had been spending his penny savings in fanciful trifles of various -kinds, to go as prizes in the games, and they were marshaled with fine -and showy effect upon the table. He said: - -“Examine them at your leisure while I get mother to touch up the kite -with her iron if it isn’t dry enough yet.” - -Then he tripped out and went clattering down-stairs, whistling. - -We did not look at the things; we couldn’t take any interest in -anything but the clock. We sat staring at it in silence, listening -to the ticking, and every time the minute-hand jumped we nodded -recognition--one minute fewer to cover in the race for life or for -death. Finally Seppi drew a deep breath and said: - -“Two minutes to ten. Seven minutes more and he will pass the -death-point. Theodor, he is going to be saved! He’s going to--” - -“Hush! I’m on needles. Watch the clock and keep still.” - -Five minutes more. We were panting with the strain and the excitement. -Another three minutes, and there was a footstep on the stair. - -“Saved!” And we jumped up and faced the door. - -The old mother entered, bringing the kite. “Isn’t it a beauty?” she -said. “And, dear me, how he has slaved over it--ever since daylight, -I think, and only finished it awhile before you came.” She stood it -against the wall, and stepped back to take a view of it. “He drew the -pictures his own self, and I think they are very good. The church -isn’t so very good, I’ll have to admit, but look at the bridge--any one -can recognize the bridge in a minute. He asked me to bring it up.... -Dear me! it’s seven minutes past ten, and I--” - -“But where is he?” - -“He? Oh, he’ll be here soon; he’s gone out a minute.” - -“Gone out?” - -“Yes. Just as he came down-stairs little Lisa’s mother came in and said -the child had wandered off somewhere, and as she was a little uneasy I -told Nikolaus to never mind about his father’s orders--go and look her -up.... Why, how white you two do look! I do believe you are sick. Sit -down; I’ll fetch something. That cake has disagreed with you. It is a -little heavy, but I thought--” - -She disappeared without finishing her sentence, and we hurried at once -to the back window and looked toward the river. There was a great crowd -at the other end of the bridge, and people were flying toward that -point from every direction. - -“Oh, it is all over--poor Nikolaus! Why, oh, why did she let him get -out of the house!” - -“Come away,” said Seppi, half sobbing, “come quick--we can’t bear to -meet her; in five minutes she will know.” - -But we were not to escape. She came upon us at the foot of the stairs, -with her cordials in her hands, and made us come in and sit down and -take the medicine. Then she watched the effect, and it did not satisfy -her; so she made us wait longer, and kept upbraiding herself for giving -us the unwholesome cake. - -Presently the thing happened which we were dreading. There was a sound -of tramping and scraping outside, and a crowd came solemnly in, with -heads uncovered, and laid the two drowned bodies on the bed. - -“Oh, my God!” that poor mother cried out, and fell on her knees, and -put her arms about her dead boy and began to cover the wet face with -kisses. “Oh, it was I that sent him, and I have been his death. If I -had obeyed, and kept him in the house, this would not have happened. -And I am rightly punished; I was cruel to him last night, and him -begging me, his own mother, to be his friend.” - -And so she went on and on, and all the women cried, and pitied her, and -tried to comfort her, but she could not forgive herself and could not -be comforted, and kept on saying if she had not sent him out he would -be alive and well now, and she was the cause of his death. - -It shows how foolish people are when they blame themselves for anything -they have done. Satan knows, and he said nothing happens that your -first act hasn’t arranged to happen and made inevitable; and so, of -your own motion you can’t ever alter the scheme or do a thing that -will break a link. Next we heard screams, and Frau Brandt came wildly -plowing and plunging through the crowd with her dress in disorder and -hair flying loose, and flung herself upon her dead child with moans and -kisses and pleadings and endearments; and by and by she rose up almost -exhausted with her outpourings of passionate emotion, and clenched her -fist and lifted it toward the sky, and her tear-drenched face grew hard -and resentful, and she said: - -“For nearly two weeks I have had dreams and presentiments and warnings -that death was going to strike what was most precious to me, and -day and night and night and day I have groveled in the dirt before -Him praying Him to have pity on my innocent child and save it from -harm--and here is His answer!” - -Why, He had saved it from harm--but she did not know. - -She wiped the tears from her eyes and cheeks, and stood awhile gazing -down at the child and caressing its face and its hair with her hand; -then she spoke again in that bitter tone: “But in His hard heart is no -compassion. I will never pray again.” - - [Illustration: THERE WAS A SOUND OF TRAMPING OUTSIDE AND THE - CROWD CAME SOLEMNLY IN] - -She gathered her dead child to her bosom and strode away, the crowd -falling back to let her pass, and smitten dumb by the awful words they -had heard. Ah, that poor woman! It is as Satan said, we do not know -good fortune from bad, and are always mistaking the one for the other. -Many a time since then I have heard people pray to God to spare the -life of sick persons, but I have never done it. - -Both funerals took place at the same time in our little church next -day. Everybody was there, including the party guests. Satan was there, -too; which was proper, for it was on account of his efforts that -the funerals had happened. Nikolaus had departed this life without -absolution, and a collection was taken up for masses, to get him out -of purgatory. Only two-thirds of the required money was gathered, and -the parents were going to try to borrow the rest, but Satan furnished -it. He told us privately that there was no purgatory, but he had -contributed in order that Nikolaus’s parents and their friends might be -saved from worry and distress. We thought it very good of him, but he -said money did not cost him anything. - -At the graveyard the body of little Lisa was seized for debt by a -carpenter to whom the mother owed fifty groschen for work done the year -before. She had never been able to pay this, and was not able now. The -carpenter took the corpse home and kept it four days in his cellar, -the mother weeping and imploring about his house all the time; then he -buried it in his brother’s cattle-yard, without religious ceremonies. -It drove the mother wild with grief and shame, and she forsook her work -and went daily about the town, cursing the carpenter and blaspheming -the laws of the emperor and the church, and it was pitiful to see. -Seppi asked Satan to interfere, but he said the carpenter and the rest -were members of the human race and were acting quite neatly for that -species of animal. He would interfere if he found a horse acting in -such a way, and we must inform him when we came across that kind of -horse doing that kind of a human thing, so that he could stop it. We -believed this was sarcasm, for of course there wasn’t any such horse. - -But after a few days we found that we could not abide that poor woman’s -distress, so we begged Satan to examine her several possible careers, -and see if he could not change her, to her profit, to a new one. He -said the longest of her careers as they now stood gave her forty-two -years to live, and her shortest one twenty-nine, and that both were -charged with grief and hunger and cold and pain. The only improvement -he could make would be to enable her to skip a certain three minutes -from now; and he asked us if he should do it. This was such a short -time to decide in that we went to pieces with nervous excitement, and -before we could pull ourselves together and ask for particulars he said -the time would be up in a few more seconds; so then we gasped out, “Do -it!” - -“It is done,” he said; “she was going around a corner; I have turned -her back; it has changed her career.” - -“Then what will happen, Satan?” - -“It is happening now. She is having words with Fischer, the weaver. In -his anger Fischer will straightway do what he would not have done but -for this accident. He was present when she stood over her child’s body -and uttered those blasphemies.” - -“What will he do?” - -“He is doing it now--betraying her. In three days she will go to the -stake.” - -We could not speak; we were frozen with horror, for if we had not -meddled with her career she would have been spared this awful fate. -Satan noticed these thoughts, and said: - -“What you are thinking is strictly human-like--that is to say, foolish. -The woman is advantaged. Die when she might, she would go to heaven. By -this prompt death she gets twenty-nine years more of heaven than she is -entitled to, and escapes twenty-nine years of misery here.” - -A moment before we were bitterly making up our minds that we would -ask no more favors of Satan for friends of ours, for he did not seem -to know any way to do a person a kindness but by killing him; but the -whole aspect of the case was changed now, and we were glad of what we -had done and full of happiness in the thought of it. - -After a little I began to feel troubled about Fischer, and asked, -timidly, “Does this episode change Fischer’s life-scheme, Satan?” - -“Change it? Why, certainly. And radically. If he had not met Frau -Brandt awhile ago he would die next year, thirty-four years of age. -Now he will live to be ninety, and have a pretty prosperous and -comfortable life of it, as human lives go.” - -We felt a great joy and pride in what we had done for Fischer, and were -expecting Satan to sympathize with this feeling; but he showed no sign, -and this made us uneasy. We waited for him to speak, but he didn’t; so, -to assuage our solicitude we had to ask him if there was any defect in -Fischer’s good luck. Satan considered the question a moment, then said, -with some hesitation: - -“Well, the fact is, it is a delicate point. Under his several former -possible life-careers he was going to heaven.” - -We were aghast. “Oh, Satan! and under this one--” - -“There, don’t be so distressed. You were sincerely trying to do him a -kindness; let that comfort you.” - -“Oh, dear, dear, that cannot comfort us. You ought to have told us what -we were doing, then we wouldn’t have acted so.” - -But it made no impression on him. He had never felt a pain or a sorrow, -and did not know what they were, in any really informing way. He had no -knowledge of them except theoretically--that is to say, intellectually. -And of course that is no good. One can never get any but a loose and -ignorant notion of such things except by experience. We tried our best -to make him comprehend the awful thing that had been done and how we -were compromised by it, but he couldn’t seem to get hold of it. He said -he did not think it important where Fischer went to; in heaven he -would not be missed, there were “plenty there.” We tried to make him -see that he was missing the point entirely; that Fischer, and not other -people, was the proper one to decide about the importance of it; but it -all went for nothing; he said he did not care for Fischer--there were -plenty more Fischers. - -The next minute Fischer went by on the other side of the way, and it -made us sick and faint to see him, remembering the doom that was upon -him, and we the cause of it. And how unconscious he was that anything -had happened to him! You could see by his elastic step and his alert -manner that he was well satisfied with himself for doing that hard -turn for poor Frau Brandt. He kept glancing back over his shoulder -expectantly. And, sure enough, pretty soon Frau Brandt followed after, -in charge of the officers and wearing jingling chains. A mob was in her -wake, jeering and shouting, “Blasphemer and heretic!” and some among -them were neighbors and friends of her happier days. Some were trying -to strike her, and the officers were not taking as much trouble as they -might to keep them from it. - -“Oh, stop them, Satan!” It was out before we remembered that he -could not interrupt them for a moment without changing their whole -after-lives. He puffed a little puff toward them with his lips and they -began to reel and stagger and grab at the empty air; then they broke -apart and fled in every direction, shrieking, as if in intolerable -pain. He had crushed a rib of each of them with that little puff. We -could not help asking if their life-chart was changed. - -“Yes, entirely. Some have gained years, some have lost them. Some few -will profit in various ways by the change, but only that few.” - -We did not ask if we had brought poor Fischer’s luck to any of them. -We did not wish to know. We fully believed in Satan’s desire to do -us kindnesses, but we were losing confidence in his judgment. It -was at this time that our growing anxiety to have him look over our -life-charts and suggest improvements began to fade out and give place -to other interests. - -For a day or two the whole village was a chattering turmoil over Frau -Brandt’s case and over the mysterious calamity that had overtaken the -mob, and at her trial the place was crowded. She was easily convicted -of her blasphemies, for she uttered those terrible words again and said -she would not take them back. When warned that she was imperiling her -life, she said they could take it in welcome, she did not want it, she -would rather live with the professional devils in perdition than with -these imitators in the village. They accused her of breaking all those -ribs by witchcraft, and asked her if she was not a witch? She answered -scornfully: - -“No. If I had that power would any of you holy hypocrites be alive five -minutes? No; I would strike you all dead. Pronounce your sentence and -let me go; I am tired of your society.” - -So they found her guilty, and she was excommunicated and cut off -from the joys of heaven and doomed to the fires of hell; then she -was clothed in a coarse robe and delivered to the secular arm, and -conducted to the market-place, the bell solemnly tolling the while. We -saw her chained to the stake, and saw the first thin film of blue smoke -rise on the still air. Then her hard face softened, and she looked upon -the packed crowd in front of her and said, with gentleness: - -“We played together once, in long-agone days when we were innocent -little creatures. For the sake of that, I forgive you.” - -We went away then, and did not see the fires consume her, but we heard -the shrieks, although we put our fingers in our ears. When they ceased -we knew she was in heaven, notwithstanding the excommunication; and we -were glad of her death and not sorry that we had brought it about. - -One day, a little while after this, Satan appeared again. We were -always watching out for him, for life was never very stagnant when he -was by. He came upon us at that place in the woods where we had first -met him. Being boys, we wanted to be entertained; we asked him to do a -show for us. - -“Very well,” he said; “would you like to see a history of the progress -of the human race?--its development of that product which it calls -civilization?” - -We said we should. - -So, with a thought, he turned the place into the Garden of Eden, and -we saw Abel praying by his altar; then Cain came walking toward him -with his club, and did not seem to see us, and would have stepped on my -foot if I had not drawn it in. He spoke to his brother in a language -which we did not understand; then he grew violent and threatening, and -we knew what was going to happen, and turned away our heads for the -moment; but we heard the crash of the blows and heard the shrieks and -the groans; then there was silence, and we saw Abel lying in his blood -and gasping out his life, and Cain standing over him and looking down -at him, vengeful and unrepentant. - -Then the vision vanished, and was followed by a long series of unknown -wars, murders, and massacres. Next we had the Flood, and the Ark -tossing around in the stormy waters, with lofty mountains in the -distance showing veiled and dim through the rain. Satan said: - -“The progress of your race was not satisfactory. It is to have another -chance now.” - -The scene changed, and we saw Noah overcome with wine. - -Next, we had Sodom and Gomorrah, and “the attempt to discover two or -three respectable persons there,” as Satan described it. Next, Lot and -his daughters in the cave. - -Next came the Hebraic wars, and we saw the victims massacre the -survivors and their cattle, and save the young girls alive and -distribute them around. - -Next we had Jael; and saw her slip into the tent and drive the nail -into the temple of her sleeping guest; and we were so close that when -the blood gushed out it trickled in a little, red stream to our feet, -and we could have stained our hands in it if we had wanted to. - -Next we had Egyptian wars, Greek wars, Roman wars, hideous drenchings -of the earth with blood; and we saw the treacheries of the Romans -toward the Carthaginians, and the sickening spectacle of the massacre -of those brave people. Also we saw Cæsar invade Britain--“not that -those barbarians had done him any harm, but because he wanted their -land, and desired to confer the blessings of civilization upon their -widows and orphans,” as Satan explained. - -Next, Christianity was born. Then ages of Europe passed in review -before us, and we saw Christianity and Civilization march hand in hand -through those ages, “leaving famine and death and desolation in their -wake, and other signs of the progress of the human race,” as Satan -observed. - -And always we had wars, and more wars, and still other wars--all over -Europe, all over the world. “Sometimes in the private interest of royal -families,” Satan said, “sometimes to crush a weak nation; but never a -war started by the aggressor for any clean purpose--there is no such -war in the history of the race.” - -“Now,” said Satan, “you have seen your progress down to the present, -and you must confess that it is wonderful--in its way. We must now -exhibit the future.” - -He showed us slaughters more terrible in their destruction of life, -more devastating in their engines of war, than any we had seen. - -“You perceive,” he said, “that you have made continual progress. Cain -did his murder with a club; the Hebrews did their murders with javelins -and swords; the Greeks and Romans added protective armor and the fine -arts of military organization and generalship; the Christian has added -guns and gunpowder; a few centuries from now he will have so greatly -improved the deadly effectiveness of his weapons of slaughter that all -men will confess that without Christian civilization war must have -remained a poor and trifling thing to the end of time.” - -Then he began to laugh in the most unfeeling way, and make fun of the -human race, although he knew that what he had been saying shamed us and -wounded us. No one but an angel could have acted so; but suffering is -nothing to them; they do not know what it is, except by hearsay. - -More than once Seppi and I had tried in a humble and diffident way to -convert him, and as he had remained silent we had taken his silence -as a sort of encouragement; necessarily, then, this talk of his was a -disappointment to us, for it showed that we had made no deep impression -upon him. The thought made us sad, and we knew then how the missionary -must feel when he has been cherishing a glad hope and has seen it -blighted. We kept our grief to ourselves, knowing that this was not the -time to continue our work. - -Satan laughed his unkind laugh to a finish; then he said: “It is a -remarkable progress. In five or six thousand years five or six high -civilizations have risen, flourished, commanded the wonder of the -world, then faded out and disappeared; and not one of them except the -latest ever invented any sweeping and adequate way to kill people. -They all did their best--to kill being the chiefest ambition of the -human race and the earliest incident in its history--but only the -Christian civilization has scored a triumph to be proud of. Two or -three centuries from now it will be recognized that all the competent -killers are Christians; then the pagan world will go to school to the -Christian--not to acquire his religion, but his guns. The Turk and the -Chinaman will buy those to kill missionaries and converts with.” - -By this time his theater was at work again, and before our eyes nation -after nation drifted by, during two or three centuries, a mighty -procession, an endless procession, raging, struggling, wallowing -through seas of blood, smothered in battle-smoke through which the -flags glinted and the red jets from the cannon darted; and always we -heard the thunder of the guns and the cries of the dying. - -“And what does it amount to?” said Satan, with his evil chuckle. -“Nothing at all. You gain nothing; you always come out where you went -in. For a million years the race has gone on monotonously propagating -itself and monotonously reperforming this dull nonsense--to what end? -No wisdom can guess! Who gets a profit out of it? Nobody but a parcel -of usurping little monarchs and nobilities who despise you; would feel -defiled if you touched them; would shut the door in your face if you -proposed to call; whom you slave for, fight for, die for, and are not -ashamed of it, but proud; whose existence is a perpetual insult to you -and you are afraid to resent it; who are mendicants supported by your -alms, yet assume toward you the airs of benefactor toward beggar; who -address you in the language of master to slave, and are answered in -the language of slave to master; who are worshiped by you with your -mouth, while in your heart--if you have one--you despise yourselves -for it. The first man was a hypocrite and a coward, qualities which -have not yet failed in his line; it is the foundation upon which all -civilizations have been built. Drink to their perpetuation! Drink to -their augmentation! Drink to--” Then he saw by our faces how much we -were hurt, and he cut his sentence short and stopped chuckling, and -his manner changed. He said, gently: “No, we will drink one another’s -health, and let civilization go. The wine which has flown to our hands -out of space by desire is earthly, and good enough for that other -toast; but throw away the glasses; we will drink this one in wine which -has not visited this world before.” - -We obeyed, and reached up and received the new cups as they descended. -They were shapely and beautiful goblets, but they were not made of any -material that we were acquainted with. They seemed to be in motion, -they seemed to be alive; and certainly the colors in them were in -motion. They were very brilliant and sparkling, and of every tint, and -they were never still, but flowed to and fro in rich tides which met -and broke and flashed out dainty explosions of enchanting color. I -think it was most like opals washing about in waves and flashing out -their splendid fires. But there is nothing to compare the wine with. -We drank it, and felt a strange and witching ecstasy as of heaven go -stealing through us, and Seppi’s eyes filled and he said, worshipingly: - -“We shall be there some day, and then--” - -He glanced furtively at Satan, and I think he hoped Satan would say, -“Yes, you will be there some day,” but Satan seemed to be thinking -about something else, and said nothing. This made me feel ghastly, -for I knew he had heard; nothing, spoken or unspoken, ever escaped -him. Poor Seppi looked distressed, and did not finish his remark. The -goblets rose and clove their way into the sky, a triplet of radiant -sundogs, and disappeared. Why didn’t they stay? It seemed a bad sign, -and depressed me. Should I ever see mine again? Would Seppi ever see -his? - - - - -CHAPTER IX - - -It was wonderful, the mastery Satan had over time and distance. For -him they did not exist. He called them human inventions, and said they -were artificialities. We often went to the most distant parts of the -globe with him, and stayed weeks and months, and yet were gone only -a fraction of a second, as a rule. You could prove it by the clock. -One day when our people were in such awful distress because the witch -commission were afraid to proceed against the astrologer and Father -Peter’s household, or against any, indeed, but the poor and the -friendless, they lost patience and took to witch-hunting on their own -score, and began to chase a born lady who was known to have the habit -of curing people by devilish arts, such as bathing them, washing them, -and nourishing them instead of bleeding them and purging them through -the ministrations of a barber-surgeon in the proper way. She came -flying down, with the howling and cursing mob after her, and tried to -take refuge in houses, but the doors were shut in her face. They chased -her more than half an hour, we following to see it, and at last she -was exhausted and fell, and they caught her. They dragged her to a -tree and threw a rope over the limb, and began to make a noose in it, -some holding her, meantime, and she crying and begging, and her young -daughter looking on and weeping, but afraid to say or do anything. - -They hanged the lady, and I threw a stone at her, although in my heart -I was sorry for her; but all were throwing stones and each was watching -his neighbor, and if I had not done as the others did it would have -been noticed and spoken of. Satan burst out laughing. - -All that were near by turned upon him, astonished and not pleased. -It was an ill time to laugh, for his free and scoffing ways and his -supernatural music had brought him under suspicion all over the town -and turned many privately against him. The big blacksmith called -attention to him now, raising his voice so that all should hear, and -said: - -“What are you laughing at? Answer! Moreover, please explain to the -company why you threw no stone.” - -“Are you sure I did not throw a stone?” - -“Yes. You needn’t try to get out of it; I had my eye on you.” - -“And I--I noticed you!” shouted two others. - -“Three witnesses,” said Satan: “Mueller, the blacksmith; Klein, the -butcher’s man; Pfeiffer, the weaver’s journeyman. Three very ordinary -liars. Are there any more?” - -“Never mind whether there are others or not, and never mind about what -you consider us--three’s enough to settle your matter for you. You’ll -prove that you threw a stone, or it shall go hard with you.” - -“That’s so!” shouted the crowd, and surged up as closely as they could -to the center of interest. - -“And first you will answer that other question,” cried the blacksmith, -pleased with himself for being mouthpiece to the public and hero of the -occasion. “What are you laughing at?” - -Satan smiled and answered, pleasantly: “To see three cowards stoning a -dying lady when they were so near death themselves.” - -You could see the superstitious crowd shrink and catch their breath, -under the sudden shock. The blacksmith, with a show of bravado, said: - -“Pooh! What do you know about it?” - -“I? Everything. By profession I am a fortune-teller, and I read the -hands of you three--and some others--when you lifted them to stone the -woman. One of you will die to-morrow week; another of you will die -to-night; the third has but five minutes to live--and yonder is the -clock!” - -It made a sensation. The faces of the crowd blanched, and turned -mechanically toward the clock. The butcher and the weaver seemed -smitten with an illness, but the blacksmith braced up and said, with -spirit: - -“It is not long to wait for prediction number one. If it fails, young -master, you will not live a whole minute after, I promise you that.” - -No one said anything; all watched the clock in a deep stillness which -was impressive. When four and a half minutes were gone the blacksmith -gave a sudden gasp and clapped his hand upon his heart, saying, “Give -me breath! Give me room!” and began to sink down. The crowd surged -back, no one offering to support him, and he fell lumbering to the -ground and was dead. The people stared at him, then at Satan, then at -one another; and their lips moved, but no words came. Then Satan said: - -“Three saw that I threw no stone. Perhaps there are others; let them -speak.” - -It struck a kind of panic into them, and, although no one answered -him, many began to violently accuse one another, saying, “You said he -didn’t throw,” and getting for reply, “It is a lie, and I will make you -eat it!” And so in a moment they were in a raging and noisy turmoil, -and beating and banging one another; and in the midst was the only -indifferent one--the dead lady hanging from her rope, her troubles -forgotten, her spirit at peace. - -So we walked away, and I was not at ease, but was saying to myself, “He -told them he was laughing at them, but it was a lie--he was laughing at -me.” - -That made him laugh again, and he said, “Yes, I was laughing at you, -because, in fear of what others might report about you, you stoned the -woman when your heart revolted at the act--but I was laughing at the -others, too.” - -“Why?” - -“Because their case was yours.” - -“How is that?” - -“Well, there were sixty-eight people there, and sixty-two of them had -no more desire to throw a stone than you had.” - -“Satan!” - -“Oh, it’s true. I know your race. It is made up of sheep. It is -governed by minorities, seldom or never by majorities. It suppresses -its feelings and its beliefs and follows the handful that makes the -most noise. Sometimes the noisy handful is right, sometimes wrong; -but no matter, the crowd follows it. The vast majority of the race, -whether savage or civilized, are secretly kind-hearted and shrink -from inflicting pain, but in the presence of the aggressive and -pitiless minority they don’t dare to assert themselves. Think of it! -One kind-hearted creature spies upon another, and sees to it that -he loyally helps in iniquities which revolt both of them. Speaking -as an expert, I know that ninety-nine out of a hundred of your race -were strongly against the killing of witches when that foolishness -was first agitated by a handful of pious lunatics in the long ago. -And I know that even to-day, after ages of transmitted prejudice and -silly teaching, only one person in twenty puts any real heart into the -harrying of a witch. And yet apparently everybody hates witches and -wants them killed. Some day a handful will rise up on the other side -and make the most noise--perhaps even a single daring man with a big -voice and a determined front will do it--and in a week all the sheep -will wheel and follow him, and witch-hunting will come to a sudden end. - -“Monarchies, aristocracies, and religions are all based upon that large -defect in your race--the individual’s distrust of his neighbor, and his -desire, for safety’s or comfort’s sake, to stand well in his neighbor’s -eye. These institutions will always remain, and always flourish, and -always oppress you, affront you, and degrade you, because you will -always be and remain slaves of minorities. There was never a country -where the majority of the people were in their secret hearts loyal to -any of these institutions.” - -I did not like to hear our race called sheep, and said I did not think -they were. - -“Still, it is true, lamb,” said Satan. “Look at you in war--what mutton -you are, and how ridiculous!” - -“In war? How?” - -“There has never been a just one, never an honorable one--on the part -of the instigator of the war. I can see a million years ahead, and -this rule will never change in so many as half a dozen instances. The -loud little handful--as usual--will shout for the war. The pulpit -will--warily and cautiously--object--at first; the great, big, dull -bulk of the nation will rub its sleepy eyes and try to make out why -there should be a war, and will say, earnestly and indignantly, “It is -unjust and dishonorable, and there is no necessity for it.” Then the -handful will shout louder. A few fair men on the other side will argue -and reason against the war with speech and pen, and at first will have -a hearing and be applauded; but it will not last long; those others -will outshout them, and presently the anti-war audiences will thin -out and lose popularity. Before long you will see this curious thing: -the speakers stoned from the platform, and free speech strangled by -hordes of furious men who in their secret hearts are still at one with -those stoned speakers--as earlier--but do not dare to say so. And now -the whole nation--pulpit and all--will take up the war-cry, and shout -itself hoarse, and mob any honest man who ventures to open his mouth; -and presently such mouths will cease to open. Next the statesmen will -invent cheap lies, putting the blame upon the nation that is attacked, -and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities, and -will diligently study them, and refuse to examine any refutations of -them; and thus he will by and by convince himself that the war is just, -and will thank God for the better sleep he enjoys after this process of -grotesque self-deception.” - - - - -CHAPTER X - - -Days and days went by now, and no Satan. It was dull without him. But -the astrologer, who had returned from his excursion to the moon, went -about the village, braving public opinion, and getting a stone in -the middle of his back now and then when some witch-hater got a safe -chance to throw it and dodge out of sight. Meantime two influences had -been working well for Marget. That Satan, who was quite indifferent -to her, had stopped going to her house after a visit or two had hurt -her pride, and she had set herself the task of banishing him from her -heart. Reports of Wilhelm Meidling’s dissipation brought to her from -time to time by old Ursula had touched her with remorse, jealousy of -Satan being the cause of it; and so now, these two matters working upon -her together, she was getting a good profit out of the combination--her -interest in Satan was steadily cooling, her interest in Wilhelm as -steadily warming. All that was needed to complete her conversion -was that Wilhelm should brace up and do something that should cause -favorable talk and incline the public toward him again. - -The opportunity came now. Marget sent and asked him to defend her -uncle in the approaching trial, and he was greatly pleased, and -stopped drinking and began his preparations with diligence. With more -diligence than hope, in fact, for it was not a promising case. He had -many interviews in his office with Seppi and me, and threshed out our -testimony pretty thoroughly, thinking to find some valuable grains -among the chaff, but the harvest was poor, of course. - -If Satan would only come! That was my constant thought. He could -invent some way to win the case; for he had said it would be won, so -he necessarily knew how it could be done. But the days dragged on, and -still he did not come. Of course I did not doubt that it would win, -and that Father Peter would be happy for the rest of his life, since -Satan had said so; yet I knew I should be much more comfortable if he -would come and tell us how to manage it. It was getting high time for -Father Peter to have a saving change toward happiness, for by general -report he was worn out with his imprisonment and the ignominy that was -burdening him, and was like to die of his miseries unless he got relief -soon. - -At last the trial came on, and the people gathered from all around to -witness it; among them many strangers from considerable distances. Yes, -everybody was there except the accused. He was too feeble in body for -the strain. But Marget was present, and keeping up her hope and her -spirit the best she could. The money was present, too. It was emptied -on the table, and was handled and caressed and examined by such as were -privileged. - -The astrologer was put in the witness-box. He had on his best hat and -robe for the occasion. - -_Question._ You claim that this money is yours? - -_Answer._ I do. - -_Q._ How did you come by it? - -_A._ I found the bag in the road when I was returning from a journey. - -_Q._ When? - -_A._ More than two years ago. - -_Q._ What did you do with it? - -_A._ I brought it home and hid it in a secret place in my observatory, -intending to find the owner if I could. - -_Q._ You endeavored to find him? - -_A._ I made diligent inquiry during several months, but nothing came of -it. - -_Q._ And then? - -_A._ I thought it not worth while to look further, and was minded to -use the money in finishing the wing of the foundling-asylum connected -with the priory and nunnery. So I took it out of its hiding-place and -counted it to see if any of it was missing. And then-- - -_Q._ Why do you stop? Proceed. - -_A._ I am sorry to have to say this, but just as I had finished and -was restoring the bag to its place, I looked up and there stood Father -Peter behind me. - -Several murmured, “That looks bad,” but others answered, “Ah, but he is -such a liar!” - -_Q._ That made you uneasy? - -_A._ No; I thought nothing of it at the time, for Father Peter often -came to me unannounced to ask for a little help in his need. - -Marget blushed crimson at hearing her uncle falsely and impudently -charged with begging, especially from one he had always denounced as a -fraud, and was going to speak, but remembered herself in time and held -her peace. - -_Q._ Proceed. - -_A._ In the end I was afraid to contribute the money to the -foundling-asylum, but elected to wait yet another year and continue -my inquiries. When I heard of Father Peter’s find I was glad, and no -suspicions entered my mind; when I came home a day or two later and -discovered that my own money was gone I still did not suspect until -three circumstances connected with Father Peter’s good fortune struck -me as being singular coincidences. - -_Q._ Pray name them. - -_A._ Father Peter had found his money in a path--I had found mine in a -road. Father Peter’s find consisted exclusively of gold ducats--mine -also. Father Peter found eleven hundred and seven ducats--I exactly -the same. - -This closed his evidence, and certainly it made a strong impression on -the house; one could see that. - -Wilhelm Meidling asked him some questions, then called us boys, and we -told our tale. It made the people laugh, and we were ashamed. We were -feeling pretty badly, anyhow, because Wilhelm was hopeless, and showed -it. He was doing as well as he could, poor young fellow, but nothing -was in his favor, and such sympathy as there was was now plainly not -with his client. It might be difficult for court and people to believe -the astrologer’s story, considering his character, but it was almost -impossible to believe Father Peter’s. We were already feeling badly -enough, but when the astrologer’s lawyer said he believed he would -not ask us any questions--for our story was a little delicate and it -would be cruel for him to put any strain upon it--everybody tittered, -and it was almost more than we could bear. Then he made a sarcastic -little speech, and got so much fun out of our tale, and it seemed so -ridiculous and childish and every way impossible and foolish, that it -made everybody laugh till the tears came; and at last Marget could not -keep up her courage any longer, but broke down and cried, and I was so -sorry for her. - -Now I noticed something that braced me up. It was Satan standing -alongside of Wilhelm! And there was such a contrast!--Satan looked so -confident, had such a spirit in his eyes and face, and Wilhelm looked -so depressed and despondent. We two were comfortable now, and judged -that he would testify and persuade the bench and the people that black -was white and white black, or any other color he wanted it. We glanced -around to see what the strangers in the house thought of him, for he -was beautiful, you know--stunning, in fact--but no one was noticing -him; so we knew by that that he was invisible. - -The lawyer was saying his last words; and while he was saying them -Satan began to melt into Wilhelm. He melted into him and disappeared; -and then there was a change, when his spirit began to look out of -Wilhelm’s eyes. - -That lawyer finished quite seriously, and with dignity. He pointed to -the money, and said: - -“The love of it is the root of all evil. There it lies, the ancient -tempter, newly red with the shame of its latest victory--the dishonor -of a priest of God and his two poor juvenile helpers in crime. If it -could but speak, let us hope that it would be constrained to confess -that of all its conquests this was the basest and the most pathetic.” - -He sat down. Wilhelm rose and said: - -“From the testimony of the accuser I gather that he found this money -in a road more than two years ago. Correct me, sir, if I misunderstood -you.” - -The astrologer said his understanding of it was correct. - -“And the money so found was never out of his hands thenceforth up to a -certain definite date--the last day of last year. Correct me, sir, if I -am wrong.” - -The astrologer nodded his head. Wilhelm turned to the bench and said: - -“If I prove that this money here was not that money, then it is not -his?” - -“Certainly not; but this is irregular. If you had such a witness it -was your duty to give proper notice of it and have him here to--” He -broke off and began to consult with the other judges. Meantime that -other lawyer got up excited and began to protest against allowing new -witnesses to be brought into the case at this late stage. - -The judges decided that his contention was just and must be allowed. - -“But this is not a new witness,” said Wilhelm. “It has already been -partly examined. I speak of the coin.” - -“The coin? What can the coin say?” - -“It can say it is not the coin that the astrologer once possessed. It -can say it was not in existence last December. By its date it can say -this.” - -And it was so! There was the greatest excitement in the court while -that lawyer and the judges were reaching for coins and examining them -and exclaiming. And everybody was full of admiration of Wilhelm’s -brightness in happening to think of that neat idea. At last order was -called and the court said: - -“All of the coins but four are of the date of the present year. The -court tenders its sincere sympathy to the accused, and its deep regret -that he, an innocent man, through an unfortunate mistake, has suffered -the undeserved humiliation of imprisonment and trial. The case is -dismissed.” - -So the money could speak, after all, though that lawyer thought it -couldn’t. The court rose, and almost everybody came forward to shake -hands with Marget and congratulate her, and then to shake with Wilhelm -and praise him; and Satan had stepped out of Wilhelm and was standing -around looking on full of interest, and people walking through him -every which way, not knowing he was there. And Wilhelm could not -explain why he only thought of the date on the coins at the last -moment, instead of earlier; he said it just occurred to him, all of -a sudden, like an inspiration, and he brought it right out without -any hesitation, for, although he didn’t examine the coins, he seemed, -somehow, to know it was true. That was honest of him, and like him; -another would have pretended he had thought of it earlier, and was -keeping it back for a surprise. - -He had dulled down a little now; not much, but still you could notice -that he hadn’t that luminous look in his eyes that he had while Satan -was in him. He nearly got it back, though, for a moment when Marget -came and praised him and thanked him and couldn’t keep him from seeing -how proud she was of him. The astrologer went off dissatisfied and -cursing, and Solomon Isaacs gathered up the money and carried it away. -It was Father Peter’s for good and all, now. - -Satan was gone. I judged that he had spirited himself away to the jail -to tell the prisoner the news; and in this I was right. Marget and -the rest of us hurried thither at our best speed, in a great state of -rejoicing. - -Well, what Satan had done was this: he had appeared before that poor -prisoner, exclaiming, “The trial is over, and you stand forever -disgraced as a thief--by verdict of the court!” - -The shock unseated the old man’s reason. When we arrived, ten minutes -later, he was parading pompously up and down and delivering commands to -this and that and the other constable or jailer, and calling them Grand -Chamberlain, and Prince This and Prince That, and Admiral of the Fleet, -Field Marshal in Command, and all such fustian, and was as happy as a -bird. He thought he was Emperor! - -Marget flung herself on his breast and cried, and indeed everybody -was moved almost to heartbreak. He recognized Marget, but could not -understand why she should cry. He patted her on the shoulder and said: - -“Don’t do it, dear; remember, there are witnesses, and it is not -becoming in the Crown Princess. Tell me your trouble--it shall be -mended; there is nothing the Emperor cannot do.” Then he looked around -and saw old Ursula with her apron to her eyes. He was puzzled at that, -and said, “And what is the matter with you?” - -Through her sobs she got out words explaining that she was distressed -to see him--“so.” He reflected over that a moment, then muttered, as -if to himself: “A singular old thing, the Dowager Duchess--means well, -but is always snuffling and never able to tell what it is about. It is -because she doesn’t know.” His eye fell on Wilhelm. “Prince of India,” -he said, “I divine that it is you that the Crown Princess is concerned -about. Her tears shall be dried; I will no longer stand between you; -she shall share your throne; and between you you shall inherit mine. -There, little lady, have I done well? You can smile now--isn’t it so?” - -He petted Marget and kissed her, and was so contented with himself and -with everybody that he could not do enough for us all, but began to -give away kingdoms and such things right and left, and the least that -any of us got was a principality. And so at last, being persuaded to go -home, he marched in imposing state; and when the crowds along the way -saw how it gratified him to be hurrahed at, they humored him to the top -of his desire, and he responded with condescending bows and gracious -smiles, and often stretched out a hand and said, “Bless you, my people!” - -As pitiful a sight as ever I saw. And Marget, and old Ursula crying all -the way. - -On my road home I came upon Satan, and reproached him with deceiving -me with that lie. He was not embarrassed, but said, quite simply and -composedly: - -“Ah, you mistake; it was the truth. I said he would be happy the rest -of his days, and he will, for he will always think he is the Emperor, -and his pride in it and his joy in it will endure to the end. He is -now, and will remain, the one utterly happy person in this empire.” - -“But the method of it, Satan, the method! Couldn’t you have done it -without depriving him of his reason?” - -It was difficult to irritate Satan, but that accomplished it. - -“What an ass you are!” he said. “Are you so unobservant as not to have -found out that sanity and happiness are an impossible combination? -No sane man can be happy, for to him life is real, and he sees what -a fearful thing it is. Only the mad can be happy, and not many of -those. The few that imagine themselves kings or gods are happy, the -rest are no happier than the sane. Of course, no man is entirely in -his right mind at any time, but I have been referring to the extreme -cases. I have taken from this man that trumpery thing which the race -regards as a Mind; I have replaced his tin life with a silver-gilt -fiction; you see the result--and you criticize! I said I would make him -permanently happy, and I have done it. I have made him happy by the -only means possible to his race--and you are not satisfied!” He heaved -a discouraged sigh, and said, “It seems to me that this race is hard to -please.” - -There it was, you see. He didn’t seem to know any way to do a person -a favor except by killing him or making a lunatic out of him. I -apologized, as well as I could; but privately I did not think much of -his processes--at that time. - - * * * * * - -Satan was accustomed to say that our race lived a life of continuous -and uninterrupted self-deception. It duped itself from cradle to grave -with shams and delusions which it mistook for realities, and this -made its entire life a sham. Of the score of fine qualities which it -imagined it had and was vain of, it really possessed hardly one. It -regarded itself as gold, and was only brass. One day when he was in -this vein he mentioned a detail--the sense of humor. I cheered up then, -and took issue. I said we possessed it. - -“There spoke the race!” he said; “always ready to claim what it -hasn’t got, and mistake its ounce of brass filings for a ton of -gold-dust. You have a mongrel perception of humor, nothing more; a -multitude of you possess that. This multitude see the comic side of a -thousand low-grade and trivial things--broad incongruities, mainly; -grotesqueries, absurdities, evokers of the horse-laugh. The ten -thousand high-grade comicalities which exist in the world are sealed -from their dull vision. Will a day come when the race will detect the -funniness of these juvenilities and laugh at them--and by laughing at -them destroy them? For your race, in its poverty, has, unquestionably -one really effective weapon--laughter. Power, money, persuasion, -supplication, persecution--these can lift at a colossal humbug--push it -a little--weaken it a little, century by century; but only laughter can -blow it to rags and atoms at a blast. Against the assault of laughter -nothing can stand. You are always fussing and fighting with your other -weapons. Do you ever use that one? No; you leave it lying rusting. As a -race, do you ever use it at all? No; you lack sense and the courage.” - - * * * * * - -We were traveling at the time and stopped at a little city in India -and looked on while a juggler did his tricks before a group of -natives. They were wonderful, but I knew Satan could beat that game, -and I begged him to show off a little, and he said he would. He -changed himself into a native in turban and breech-cloth, and very -considerately conferred on me a temporary knowledge of the language. - -The juggler exhibited a seed, covered it with earth in a small -flower-pot, then put a rag over the pot; after a minute the rag began -to rise; in ten minutes it had risen a foot; then the rag was removed -and a little tree was exposed, with leaves upon it and ripe fruit. We -ate the fruit, and it was good. But Satan said: - -“Why do you cover the pot? Can’t you grow the tree in the sunlight?” - -“No,” said the juggler; “no one can do that.” - -“You are only an apprentice; you don’t know your trade. Give me the -seed. I will show you.” He took the seed and said, “What shall I raise -from it?” - -“It is a cherry seed; of course you will raise a cherry.” - -“Oh no; that is a trifle; any novice can do that. Shall I raise an -orange-tree from it?” - -“Oh yes!” and the juggler laughed. - -“And shall I make it bear other fruits as well as oranges?” - -“If God wills!” and they all laughed. - -Satan put the seed in the ground, put a handful of dust on it, and -said, “Rise!” - -A tiny stem shot up and began to grow, and grew so fast that in five -minutes it was a great tree, and we were sitting in the shade of it. -There was a murmur of wonder, then all looked up and saw a strange and -pretty sight, for the branches were heavy with fruits of many kinds -and colors--oranges, grapes, bananas, peaches, cherries, apricots, and -so on. Baskets were brought, and the unlading of the tree began; and -the people crowded around Satan and kissed his hand, and praised him, -calling him the prince of jugglers. The news went about the town, and -everybody came running to see the wonder--and they remembered to bring -baskets, too. But the tree was equal to the occasion; it put out new -fruits as fast as any were removed; baskets were filled by the score -and by the hundred, but always the supply remained undiminished. At -last a foreigner in white linen and sun-helmet arrived, and exclaimed, -angrily: - -“Away from here! Clear out, you dogs; the tree is on my lands and is my -property.” - -The natives put down their baskets and made humble obeisance. Satan -made humble obeisance, too, with his fingers to his forehead, in the -native way, and said: - -“Please let them have their pleasure for an hour, sir--only that, and -no longer. Afterward you may forbid them; and you will still have more -fruit than you and the state together can consume in a year.” - -This made the foreigner very angry, and he cried out, “Who are you, you -vagabond, to tell your betters what they may do and what they mayn’t!” -and he struck Satan with his cane and followed this error with a kick. - -The fruits rotted on the branches, and the leaves withered and fell. -The foreigner gazed at the bare limbs with the look of one who is -surprised, and not gratified. Satan said: - -“Take good care of the tree, for its health and yours are bound -together. It will never bear again, but if you tend it well it will -live long. Water its roots once in each hour every night--and do it -yourself; it must not be done by proxy, and to do it in daylight will -not answer. If you fail only once in any night, the tree will die, and -you likewise. Do not go home to your own country any more--you would -not reach there; make no business or pleasure engagements which require -you to go outside your gate at night--you cannot afford the risk; do -not rent or sell this place--it would be injudicious.” - -The foreigner was proud and wouldn’t beg, but I thought he looked as if -he would like to. While he stood gazing at Satan we vanished away and -landed in Ceylon. - -I was sorry for that man; sorry Satan hadn’t been his customary self -and killed him or made him a lunatic. It would have been a mercy. Satan -overheard the thought, and said: - -“I would have done it but for his wife, who has not offended me. She is -coming to him presently from their native land, Portugal. She is well, -but has not long to live, and has been yearning to see him and persuade -him to go back with her next year. She will die without knowing he -can’t leave that place?” - -“He won’t tell her?” - -“He? He will not trust that secret with any one; he will reflect that -it could be revealed in sleep, in the hearing of some Portuguese -guest’s servant some time or other.” - -“Did none of those natives understand what you said to him?” - -“None of them understood, but he will always be afraid that some of -them did. That fear will be torture to him, for he has been a harsh -master to them. In his dreams he will imagine them chopping his tree -down. That will make his days uncomfortable--I have already arranged -for his nights.” - -It grieved me, though not sharply, to see him take such a malicious -satisfaction in his plans for this foreigner. - -“Does he believe what you told him, Satan?” - -“He thought he didn’t, but our vanishing helped. The tree, where there -had been no tree before--that helped. The insane and uncanny variety of -fruits--the sudden withering--all these things are helps. Let him think -as he may, reason as he may, one thing is certain, he will water the -tree. But between this and night he will begin his changed career with -a very natural precaution--for him.” - -“What is that?” - -“He will fetch a priest to cast out the tree’s devil. You are such a -humorous race--and don’t suspect it.” - -“Will he tell the priest?” - -“No. He will say a juggler from Bombay created it, and that he wants -the juggler’s devil driven out of it, so that it will thrive and -be fruitful again. The priest’s incantations will fail; then the -Portuguese will give up that scheme and get his watering-pot ready.” - -“But the priest will burn the tree. I know it; he will not allow it to -remain.” - -“Yes, and anywhere in Europe he would burn the man, too. But in India -the people are civilized, and these things will not happen. The man -will drive the priest away and take care of the tree.” - -I reflected a little, then said, “Satan, you have given him a hard -life, I think.” - -“Comparatively. It must not be mistaken for a holiday.” - -We flitted from place to place around the world as we had done before, -Satan showing me a hundred wonders, most of them reflecting in some -way the weakness and triviality of our race. He did this now every few -days--not out of malice--I am sure of that--it only seemed to amuse and -interest him, just as a naturalist might be amused and interested by a -collection of ants. - - - - -CHAPTER XI - - -For as much as a year Satan continued these visits, but at last he -came less often, and then for a long time he did not come at all. -This always made me lonely and melancholy. I felt that he was losing -interest in our tiny world and might at any time abandon his visits -entirely. When one day he finally came to me I was overjoyed, but only -for a little while. He had come to say good-by, he told me, and for -the last time. He had investigations and undertakings in other corners -of the universe, he said, that would keep him busy for a longer period -than I could wait for his return. - -“And you are going away, and will not come back any more?” - -“Yes,” he said. “We have comraded long together, and it has been -pleasant--pleasant for both; but I must go now, and we shall not see -each other any more.” - -“In this life, Satan, but in another? We shall meet in another, surely?” - - [Illustration: “LIFE ITSELF IS ONLY A VISION, A DREAM”] - -Then, all tranquilly and soberly, he made the strange answer, “_There -is no other._” - -A subtle influence blew upon my spirit from his, bringing with it a -vague, dim, but blessed and hopeful feeling that the incredible words -might be true--even must be true. - -“Have you never suspected this, Theodor?” - -“No. How could I? But if it can only be true--” - -“It is true.” - -A gust of thankfulness rose in my breast, but a doubt checked it before -it could issue in words, and I said, “But--but--we have seen that -future life--seen it in its actuality, and so--” - -“It was a vision--it had no existence.” - -I could hardly breathe for the great hope that was struggling in me. “A -vision?--a vi--” - -“_Life itself is only a vision, a dream._” - -It was electrical. By God! I had had that very thought a thousand times -in my musings! - -“_Nothing_ exists; all is a dream. God--man--the world--the sun, the -moon, the wilderness of stars--a dream, all a dream; they have no -existence. _Nothing exists save empty space--and you!_” - -“I!” - -“And you are not you--you have no body, no blood, no bones, you are but -a _thought_. I myself have no existence; I am but a dream--your dream, -creature of your imagination. In a moment you will have realized this, -then you will banish me from your visions and I shall dissolve into -the nothingness out of which you made me.... - -“I am perishing already--I am failing--I am passing away. In a -little while you will be alone in shoreless space, to wander its -limitless solitudes without friend or comrade forever--for you will -remain a _thought_, the only existent thought, and by your nature -inextinguishable, indestructible. But I, your poor servant, have -revealed you to yourself and set you free. Dream other dreams, and -better! - -“Strange! that you should not have suspected years ago--centuries, -ages, eons ago!--for you have existed, companionless, through all the -eternities. Strange, indeed, that you should not have suspected that -your universe and its contents were only dreams, visions, fiction! -Strange, because they are so frankly and hysterically insane--like -all dreams: a God who could make good children as easily as bad, yet -preferred to make bad ones; who could have made every one of them -happy, yet never made a single happy one; who made them prize their -bitter life, yet stingily cut it short; who gave his angels eternal -happiness unearned, yet required his other children to earn it; who -gave his angels painless lives, yet cursed his other children with -biting miseries and maladies of mind and body; who mouths justice and -invented hell--mouths mercy and invented hell--mouths Golden Rules, and -forgiveness multiplied by seventy times seven, and invented hell; who -mouths morals to other people and has none himself; who frowns upon -crimes, yet commits them all; who created man without invitation, then -tries to shuffle the responsibility for man’s acts upon man, instead -of honorably placing it where it belongs, upon himself; and finally, -with altogether divine obtuseness, invites this poor, abused slave to -worship him!... - -“You perceive, _now_, that these things are all impossible except -in a dream. You perceive that they are pure and puerile insanities, -the silly creations of an imagination that is not conscious of its -freaks--in a word, that they are a dream, and you the maker of it. The -dream-marks are all present; you should have recognized them earlier. - -“It is true, that which I have revealed to you: there is no God, no -universe, no human race, no earthly life, no heaven, no hell. It is all -a dream--a grotesque and foolish dream. Nothing exists but you. And you -are but a _thought_--a vagrant thought, a useless thought, a homeless -thought, wandering forlorn among the empty eternities!” - -He vanished, and left me appalled; for I knew, and realized, that all -he had said was true. - - -THE END - - - - -BOOKS BY MARK TWAIN - - -Cloth - - THE AMERICAN CLAIMANT - CHRISTIAN SCIENCE - A CONNECTICUT YANKEE IN KING ARTHUR’S COURT - FOLLOWING THE EQUATOR - THE GILDED AGE - THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN - THE INNOCENTS ABROAD - JOAN OF ARC - LIFE ON THE MISSISSIPPI - MARK TWAIN’S SPEECHES - THE MAN THAT CORRUPTED HADLEYBURG - THE PRINCE AND PAUPER - PUDD’NHEAD WILSON - ROUGHING IT - SKETCHES NEW AND OLD - THE $30,000 BEQUEST - TOM SAWYER ABROAD - THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER - A TRAMP ABROAD - -Thin-Paper Limp-Leather - - THE AMERICAN CLAIMANT - CHRISTIAN SCIENCE - A CONNECTICUT YANKEE IN KING ARTHUR’S COURT - FOLLOWING THE EQUATOR. 2 Vols. - THE GILDED AGE. 2 Vols. - HOW TO TELL A STORY - THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN - THE INNOCENTS ABROAD. 2 Vols. - JOAN OF ARC. 2 Vols. - LIFE ON THE MISSISSIPPI - THE MAN THAT CORRUPTED HADLEYBURG - THE PRINCE AND PAUPER - PUDD’NHEAD WILSON - ROUGHING IT. 2 Vols. - SKETCHES NEW AND OLD - THE $30,000 BEQUEST - THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER - TOM SAWYER ABROAD - A TRAMP ABROAD. 2 Vols. - -HARPER & BROTHERS, NEW YORK - - - - -Transcriber’s Note: - -Spelling, hyphenation and punctuation have been retained as -they appear in the original publication except as follows: - - Page 17 - began to annoy them _changed to_ - began to annoy him - - Page 24 - Father Peter is coming. _changed to_ - Father Peter is coming.” - - Page 46 - in his pocket every morning. _changed to_ - in his pocket every morning.” - - lay four silver groshchen _changed to_ - lay four silver groschen - - Page 79 - and Wolhmeyer said _changed to_ - and Wohlmeyer said - - Page 124 - Satan burst our laughing _changed to_ - Satan burst out laughing - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mysterious Stranger, by Mark Twain - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGER *** - -***** This file should be named 50109-0.txt or 50109-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/0/1/0/50109/ - -Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images -generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian -Libraries) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - -Title: The Mysterious Stranger - A Romance - -Author: Mark Twain - -Illustrator: N. C. Wyeth - -Release Date: October 1, 2015 [EBook #50109] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGER *** - - - - -Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images -generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian -Libraries) - - - - - - -</pre> - -<div class="figcenter width500 hidehand"> -<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="500" height="692" alt="Cover" /> -</div> - -<hr class="divider" /> -<h1><span class="smcap">The Mysterious Stranger</span></h1> - - -<div class="section"> -<hr class="tb" /> -<div class="figcenter width400"> -<a href="images/i-003l.jpg"> -<img src="images/i-003.jpg" width="400" height="515" alt="" /></a> -<div class="caption">ESELDORF WAS A PARADISE FOR US BOYS</div> -</div> -</div> - - - -<div class="section"> -<hr class="divider" /> - -<p class="title p150"><small>THE</small><br /> -<span class="headtitle">Mysterious Stranger</span></p> - -<p class="title">A ROMANCE</p> - -<p class="title mt2">BY<br /> -<span class="headtitle p120">MARK TWAIN</span></p> - -<p class="title mt3"><small>WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY</small><br /> -N. C. WYETH</p> - -<div class="figcenter width100"> -<img src="images/i-005.png" width="100" height="127" alt="Colophon" /> -</div> - -<p class="title mt3"><span class="headtitle">HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS<br /> -<small>NEW YORK AND LONDON</small></span></p> -</div> - - - -<div class="section"> -<hr class="divider" /> -<p class="center"><span class="smcap">The Mysterious Stranger</span></p> - -<hr class="short" /> - -<p class="title">Copyright, 1916, by Harper & Brothers<br /> -Printed in the United States of America<br /> -Published October, 1916</p> -</div> - -<div class="section"> -<hr class="divider" /> -<h2><span class="smcap">Illustrations</span></h2> -</div> - -<table summary="Illustrations"> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Eseldorf was a Paradise for Us Boys</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><em>Frontispiece</em></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Lightning Blazed Out Flash upon Flash and Set the Castle on -Fire</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><em>Facing p.</em> 20</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">On the Fourth Day Comes the Astrologer from His Crumbling Old -Tower</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><span class="ditto">“</span>38</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Marget Was Cheerful by Help of Wilhelm Meidling</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><span class="ditto">“</span>60</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Astrologer Emptied the Whole of the Bowl into the Bottle</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><span class="ditto">“</span>74</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">There Was a Sound of Tramping Outside and the Crowd Came Solemnly -In</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><span class="ditto2">“</span>108</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">“Life Itself Is Only a Vision, a Dream”</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><span class="ditto2">“</span>148</td> -</tr> -</table> - - - -<div class="section"> -<hr class="divider" /> -<p class="center p200 headtitle"><strong>The Mysterious Stranger</strong></p> -</div> - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<hr class="divider" /> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">1</a></span> -<h2><a name="i" id="i"></a><span class="headtitle">The Mysterious Stranger</span><br /> -CHAPTER I</h2> -</div> - -<p class="noi"><span class="dropcap">I</span>T was in 1590—winter. Austria was far away from the world, and -asleep; it was still the Middle Ages in Austria, and promised to remain -so forever. Some even set it away back centuries upon centuries and -said that by the mental and spiritual clock it was still the Age of -Belief in Austria. But they meant it as a compliment, not a slur, and -it was so taken, and we were all proud of it. I remember it well, -although I was only a boy; and I remember, too, the pleasure it gave me.</p> - -<p>Yes, Austria was far from the world, and asleep, and our village was in -the middle of that sleep, being in the middle of Austria. It drowsed -in peace in the deep privacy of a hilly and woodsy solitude where -news from the world hardly ever came to disturb its dreams, and was -infinitely content. At its front flowed the tranquil river, its surface -painted with cloud-forms and the reflections of drifting arks and -stone-boats; behind it rose the woody steeps to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">2</a></span> the base of the lofty -precipice; from the top of the precipice frowned a vast castle, its -long stretch of towers and bastions mailed in vines; beyond the river, -a league to the left, was a tumbled expanse of forest-clothed hills -cloven by winding gorges where the sun never penetrated; and to the -right a precipice overlooked the river, and between it and the hills -just spoken of lay a far-reaching plain dotted with little homesteads -nested among orchards and shade trees.</p> - -<p>The whole region for leagues around was the hereditary property of a -prince, whose servants kept the castle always in perfect condition for -occupancy, but neither he nor his family came there oftener than once -in five years. When they came it was as if the lord of the world had -arrived, and had brought all the glories of its kingdoms along; and -when they went they left a calm behind which was like the deep sleep -which follows an orgy.</p> - -<p>Eseldorf was a paradise for us boys. We were not overmuch pestered with -schooling. Mainly we were trained to be good Christians; to revere -the Virgin, the Church, and the saints above everything. Beyond these -matters we were not required to know much; and, in fact, not allowed -to. Knowledge was not good for the common people, and could make them -discontented with the lot which God had appointed for them, and God -would not endure discontentment with His plans. We had two priests. One -of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">3</a></span> them, Father Adolf, was a very zealous and strenuous priest, much -considered.</p> - -<p>There may have been better priests, in some ways, than Father Adolf, -but there was never one in our commune who was held in more solemn -and awful respect. This was because he had absolutely no fear of the -Devil. He was the only Christian I have ever known of whom that could -be truly said. People stood in deep dread of him on that account; for -they thought that there must be something supernatural about him, else -he could not be so bold and so confident. All men speak in bitter -disapproval of the Devil, but they do it reverently, not flippantly; -but Father Adolf’s way was very different; he called him by every name -he could lay his tongue to, and it made every one shudder that heard -him; and often he would even speak of him scornfully and scoffingly; -then the people crossed themselves and went quickly out of his -presence, fearing that something fearful might happen.</p> - -<p>Father Adolf had actually met Satan face to face more than once, and -defied him. This was known to be so. Father Adolf said it himself. He -never made any secret of it, but spoke it right out. And that he was -speaking true there was proof in at least one instance, for on that -occasion he quarreled with the enemy, and intrepidly threw his bottle -at him; and there, upon the wall of his study, was the ruddy splotch -where it struck and broke.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">4</a></span></p> - -<p>But it was Father Peter, the other priest, that we all loved best and -were sorriest for. Some people charged him with talking around in -conversation that God was all goodness and would find a way to save all -his poor human children. It was a horrible thing to say, but there was -never any absolute proof that Father Peter said it; and it was out of -character for him to say it, too, for he was always good and gentle and -truthful. He wasn’t charged with saying it in the pulpit, where all the -congregation could hear and testify, but only outside, in talk; and it -is easy for enemies to manufacture <em>that</em>. Father Peter had an enemy -and a very powerful one, the astrologer who lived in a tumbled old -tower up the valley, and put in his nights studying the stars. Every -one knew he could foretell wars and famines, though that was not so -hard, for there was always a war and generally a famine somewhere. But -he could also read any man’s life through the stars in a big book he -had, and find lost property, and every one in the village except Father -Peter stood in awe of him. Even Father Adolf, who had defied the Devil, -had a wholesome respect for the astrologer when he came through our -village wearing his tall, pointed hat and his long, flowing robe with -stars on it, carrying his big book, and a staff which was known to have -magic power. The bishop himself sometimes listened to the astrologer, -it was said, for, besides studying the stars and prophesying, the -astrologer<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">5</a></span> made a great show of piety, which would impress the bishop, -of course.</p> - -<p>But Father Peter took no stock in the astrologer. He denounced him -openly as a charlatan—a fraud with no valuable knowledge of any kind, -or powers beyond those of an ordinary and rather inferior human being, -which naturally made the astrologer hate Father Peter and wish to -ruin him. It was the astrologer, as we all believed, who originated -the story about Father Peter’s shocking remark and carried it to the -bishop. It was said that Father Peter had made the remark to his niece, -Marget, though Marget denied it and implored the bishop to believe -her and spare her old uncle from poverty and disgrace. But the bishop -wouldn’t listen. He suspended Father Peter indefinitely, though he -wouldn’t go so far as to excommunicate him on the evidence of only one -witness; and now Father Peter had been out a couple of years, and our -other priest, Father Adolf, had his flock.</p> - -<p>Those had been hard years for the old priest and Marget. They had been -favorites, but of course that changed when they came under the shadow -of the bishop’s frown. Many of their friends fell away entirely, and -the rest became cool and distant. Marget was a lovely girl of eighteen -when the trouble came, and she had the best head in the village, and -the most in it. She taught the harp, and earned all her clothes and -pocket money by her own industry. But<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">6</a></span> her scholars fell off one by one -now; she was forgotten when there were dances and parties among the -youth of the village; the young fellows stopped coming to the house, -all except Wilhelm Meidling—and he could have been spared; she and -her uncle were sad and forlorn in their neglect and disgrace, and the -sunshine was gone out of their lives. Matters went worse and worse, all -through the two years. Clothes were wearing out, bread was harder and -harder to get. And now, at last, the very end was come. Solomon Isaacs -had lent all the money he was willing to put on the house, and gave -notice that to-morrow he would foreclose.</p> - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<hr class="divider" /> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">7</a></span> -<h2><a name="ii" id="ii"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> -</div> - -<p class="noi"><span class="dropcap">T</span>HREE of us boys were always together, and had been so from the cradle, -being fond of one another from the beginning, and this affection -deepened as the years went on—Nikolaus Bauman, son of the principal -judge of the local court; Seppi Wohlmeyer, son of the keeper of the -principal inn, the “Golden Stag,” which had a nice garden, with shade -trees reaching down to the riverside, and pleasure boats for hire; and -I was the third—Theodor Fischer, son of the church organist, who was -also leader of the village musicians, teacher of the violin, composer, -tax-collector of the commune, sexton, and in other ways a useful -citizen, and respected by all. We knew the hills and the woods as well -as the birds knew them; for we were always roaming them when we had -leisure—at least, when we were not swimming or boating or fishing, or -playing on the ice or sliding down hill.</p> - -<p>And we had the run of the castle park, and very few had that. It was -because we were pets of the oldest serving-man in the castle—Felix -Brandt; and often we went there, nights, to hear him talk about old -times and strange things,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">8</a></span> and to smoke with him (he taught us that) -and to drink coffee; for he had served in the wars, and was at the -siege of Vienna; and there, when the Turks were defeated and driven -away, among the captured things were bags of coffee, and the Turkish -prisoners explained the character of it and how to make a pleasant -drink out of it, and now he always kept coffee by him, to drink himself -and also to astonish the ignorant with. When it stormed he kept us -all night; and while it thundered and lightened outside he told us -about ghosts and horrors of every kind, and of battles and murders and -mutilations, and such things, and made it pleasant and cozy inside; and -he told these things from his own experience largely. He had seen many -ghosts in his time, and witches and enchanters, and once he was lost in -a fierce storm at midnight in the mountains, and by the glare of the -lightning had seen the Wild Huntsman rage on the blast with his specter -dogs chasing after him through the driving cloud-rack. Also he had seen -an incubus once, and several times he had seen the great bat that sucks -the blood from the necks of people while they are asleep, fanning them -softly with its wings and so keeping them drowsy till they die.</p> - -<p>He encouraged us not to fear supernatural things, such as ghosts, and -said they did no harm, but only wandered about because they were lonely -and distressed and wanted kindly notice and compassion; and in time we -learned<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">9</a></span> not to be afraid, and even went down with him in the night to -the haunted chamber in the dungeons of the castle. The ghost appeared -only once, and it went by very dim to the sight and floated noiseless -through the air, and then disappeared; and we scarcely trembled, he had -taught us so well. He said it came up sometimes in the night and woke -him by passing its clammy hand over his face, but it did him no hurt; -it only wanted sympathy and notice. But the strangest thing was that he -had seen angels—actual angels out of heaven—and had talked with them. -They had no wings, and wore clothes, and talked and looked and acted -just like any natural person, and you would never know them for angels -except for the wonderful things they did which a mortal could not do, -and the way they suddenly disappeared while you were talking with them, -which was also a thing which no mortal could do. And he said they were -pleasant and cheerful, not gloomy and melancholy, like ghosts.</p> - -<p>It was after that kind of a talk one May night that we got up next -morning and had a good breakfast with him and then went down and -crossed the bridge and went away up into the hills on the left to -a woody hill-top which was a favorite place of ours, and there we -stretched out on the grass in the shade to rest and smoke and talk over -these strange things, for they were in our minds yet, and impressing -us. But we couldn’t<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">10</a></span> smoke, because we had been heedless and left our -flint and steel behind.</p> - -<p>Soon there came a youth strolling toward us through the trees, and he -sat down and began to talk in a friendly way, just as if he knew us. -But we did not answer him, for he was a stranger and we were not used -to strangers and were shy of them. He had new and good clothes on, and -was handsome and had a winning face and a pleasant voice, and was easy -and graceful and unembarrassed, not slouchy and awkward and diffident, -like other boys. We wanted to be friendly with him, but didn’t know how -to begin. Then I thought of the pipe, and wondered if it would be taken -as kindly meant if I offered it to him. But I remembered that we had -no fire, so I was sorry and disappointed. But he looked up bright and -pleased, and said:</p> - -<p>“Fire? Oh, that is easy; I will furnish it.”</p> - -<p>I was so astonished I couldn’t speak; for I had not said anything. -He took the pipe and blew his breath on it, and the tobacco glowed -red, and spirals of blue smoke rose up. We jumped up and were going -to run, for that was natural; and we did run a few steps, although -he was yearningly pleading for us to stay, and giving us his word -that he would not do us any harm, but only wanted to be friends with -us and have company. So we stopped and stood, and wanted to go back, -being full of curiosity and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">11</a></span> wonder, but afraid to venture. He went on -coaxing, in his soft, persuasive way; and when we saw that the pipe did -not blow up and nothing happened, our confidence returned by little and -little, and presently our curiosity got to be stronger than our fear, -and we ventured back—but slowly, and ready to fly at any alarm.</p> - -<p>He was bent on putting us at ease, and he had the right art; one could -not remain doubtful and timorous where a person was so earnest and -simple and gentle, and talked so alluringly as he did; no, he won us -over, and it was not long before we were content and comfortable and -chatty, and glad we had found this new friend. When the feeling of -constraint was all gone we asked him how he had learned to do that -strange thing, and he said he hadn’t learned it at all; it came natural -to him—like other things—other curious things.</p> - -<p>“What ones?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, a number; I don’t know how many.”</p> - -<p>“Will you let us see you do them?”</p> - -<p>“Do—please!” the others said.</p> - -<p>“You won’t run away again?”</p> - -<p>“No—indeed we won’t. Please do. Won’t you?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, with pleasure; but you mustn’t forget your promise, you know.”</p> - -<p>We said we wouldn’t, and he went to a puddle and came back with water -in a cup which he had made out of a leaf,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">12</a></span> and blew upon it and -threw it out, and it was a lump of ice the shape of the cup. We were -astonished and charmed, but not afraid any more; we were very glad to -be there, and asked him to go on and do some more things. And he did. -He said he would give us any kind of fruit we liked, whether it was in -season or not. We all spoke at once:</p> - -<p>“Orange!”</p> - -<p>“Apple!”</p> - -<p>“Grapes!”</p> - -<p>“They are in your pockets,” he said, and it was true. And they were of -the best, too, and we ate them and wished we had more, though none of -us said so.</p> - -<p>“You will find them where those came from,” he said, “and everything -else your appetites call for; and you need not name the thing you wish; -as long as I am with you, you have only to wish and find.”</p> - -<p>And he said true. There was never anything so wonderful and so -interesting. Bread, cakes, sweets, nuts—whatever one wanted, it was -there. He ate nothing himself, but sat and chatted, and did one curious -thing after another to amuse us. He made a tiny toy squirrel out of -clay, and it ran up a tree and sat on a limb overhead and barked down -at us. Then he made a dog that was not much larger than a mouse, and it -treed the squirrel and danced about the tree, excited and barking, and -was as alive as any dog<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">13</a></span> could be. It frightened the squirrel from tree -to tree and followed it up until both were out of sight in the forest. -He made birds out of clay and set them free, and they flew away, -singing.</p> - -<p>At last I made bold to ask him to tell us who he was.</p> - -<p>“An angel,” he said, quite simply, and set another bird free and -clapped his hands and made it fly away.</p> - -<p>A kind of awe fell upon us when we heard him say that, and we were -afraid again; but he said we need not be troubled, there was no -occasion for us to be afraid of an angel, and he liked us, anyway. -He went on chatting as simply and unaffectedly as ever; and while he -talked he made a crowd of little men and women the size of your finger, -and they went diligently to work and cleared and leveled off a space -a couple of yards square in the grass and began to build a cunning -little castle in it, the women mixing the mortar and carrying it up -the scaffoldings in pails on their heads, just as our work-women have -always done, and the men laying the courses of masonry—five hundred -of these toy people swarming briskly about and working diligently and -wiping the sweat off their faces as natural as life. In the absorbing -interest of watching those five hundred little people make the castle -grow step by step and course by course, and take shape and symmetry, -that feeling and awe soon passed away and we were quite comfortable and -at home again. We asked if we might<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">14</a></span> make some people, and he said yes, -and told Seppi to make some cannon for the walls, and told Nikolaus to -make some halberdiers, with breastplates and greaves and helmets, and -I was to make some cavalry, with horses, and in allotting these tasks -he called us by our names, but did not say how he knew them. Then Seppi -asked him what his own name was, and he said, tranquilly, “Satan,” and -held out a chip and caught a little woman on it who was falling from -the scaffolding and put her back where she belonged, and said, “She is -an idiot to step backward like that and not notice what she is about.”</p> - -<p>It caught us suddenly, that name did, and our work dropped out of our -hands and broke to pieces—a cannon, a halberdier, and a horse. Satan -laughed, and asked what was the matter. I said, “Nothing, only it -seemed a strange name for an angel.” He asked why.</p> - -<p>“Because it’s—it’s—well, it’s his name, you know.”</p> - -<p>“Yes—he is my uncle.”</p> - -<p>He said it placidly, but it took our breath for a moment and made our -hearts beat. He did not seem to notice that, but mended our halberdiers -and things with a touch, handing them to us finished, and said, “Don’t -you remember?—he was an angel himself, once.”</p> - -<p>“Yes—it’s true,” said Seppi; “I didn’t think of that.”</p> - -<p>“Before the Fall he was blameless.”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said Nikolaus, “he was without sin.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">15</a></span></p> - -<p>“It is a good family—ours,” said Satan; “there is not a better. He is -the only member of it that has ever sinned.”</p> - -<p>I should not be able to make any one understand how exciting it all -was. You know that kind of quiver that trembles around through you when -you are seeing something so strange and enchanting and wonderful that -it is just a fearful joy to be alive and look at it; and you know how -you gaze, and your lips turn dry and your breath comes short, but you -wouldn’t be anywhere but there, not for the world. I was bursting to -ask one question—I had it on my tongue’s end and could hardly hold it -back—but I was ashamed to ask it; it might be a rudeness. Satan set an -ox down that he had been making, and smiled up at me and said:</p> - -<p>“It wouldn’t be a rudeness, and I should forgive it if it was. Have I -seen him? Millions of times. From the time that I was a little child a -thousand years old I was his second favorite among the nursery angels -of our blood and lineage—to use a human phrase—yes, from that time -until the Fall, eight thousand years, measured as you count time.”</p> - -<p>“Eight—thousand!”</p> - -<p>“Yes.” He turned to Seppi, and went on as if answering something that -was in Seppi’s mind: “Why, naturally I look like a boy, for that -is what I am. With us what you call time is a spacious thing; it -takes a long stretch of it to grow an angel to full age.” There was -a question in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">16</a></span> my mind, and he turned to me and answered it, “I am -sixteen thousand years old—counting as you count.” Then he turned to -Nikolaus and said: “No, the Fall did not affect me nor the rest of the -relationship. It was only he that I was named for who ate of the fruit -of the tree and then beguiled the man and the woman with it. We others -are still ignorant of sin; we are not able to commit it; we are without -blemish, and shall abide in that estate always. We—” Two of the little -workmen were quarreling, and in buzzing little bumblebee voices they -were cursing and swearing at each other; now came blows and blood; then -they locked themselves together in a life-and-death struggle. Satan -reached out his hand and crushed the life out of them with his fingers, -threw them away, wiped the red from his fingers on his handkerchief, -and went on talking where he had left off: “We cannot do wrong; neither -have we any disposition to do it, for we do not know what it is.”</p> - -<p>It seemed a strange speech, in the circumstances, but we barely -noticed that, we were so shocked and grieved at the wanton murder he -had committed—for murder it was, that was its true name, and it was -without palliation or excuse, for the men had not wronged him in any -way. It made us miserable, for we loved him, and had thought him so -noble and so beautiful and gracious, and had honestly believed he was -an angel; and to have him do this cruel thing—ah, it lowered him so, -and we had had such<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">17</a></span> pride in him. He went right on talking, just as if -nothing had happened, telling about his travels, and the interesting -things he had seen in the big worlds of our solar system and of other -solar systems far away in the remotenesses of space, and about the -customs of the immortals that inhabit them, somehow fascinating us, -enchanting us, charming us in spite of the pitiful scene that was now -under our eyes, for the wives of the little dead men had found the -crushed and shapeless bodies and were crying over them, and sobbing -and lamenting, and a priest was kneeling there with his hands crossed -upon his breast, praying; and crowds and crowds of pitying friends -were massed about them, reverently uncovered, with their bare heads -bowed, and many with the tears running down—a scene which Satan paid -no attention to until the small noise of the weeping and praying began -to annoy <a name="him" id="him"></a><ins title="Original has them">him</ins>, then he reached out and took the heavy board seat -out of our swing and brought it down and mashed all those people into -the earth just as if they had been flies, and went on talking just the -same.</p> - -<p>An angel, and kill a priest! An angel who did not know how to do wrong, -and yet destroys in cold blood hundreds of helpless poor men and women -who had never done him any harm! It made us sick to see that awful -deed, and to think that none of those poor creatures was prepared -except the priest, for none of them had ever heard a mass or seen a -church. And we were witnesses; we had seen<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">18</a></span> these murders done and it -was our duty to tell, and let the law take its course.</p> - -<p>But he went on talking right along, and worked his enchantments upon us -again with that fatal music of his voice. He made us forget everything; -we could only listen to him, and love him, and be his slaves, to do -with us as he would. He made us drunk with the joy of being with him, -and of looking into the heaven of his eyes, and of feeling the ecstasy -that thrilled along our veins from the touch of his hand.</p> - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<hr class="divider" /> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">19</a></span> -<h2><a name="iii" id="iii"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> -</div> - -<p class="noi"><span class="dropcap">T</span>HE Stranger had seen everything, he had been everywhere, he knew -everything, and he forgot nothing. What another must study, he learned -at a glance; there were no difficulties for him. And he made things -live before you when he told about them. He saw the world made; he saw -Adam created; he saw Samson surge against the pillars and bring the -temple down in ruins about him; he saw Cæsar’s death; he told of the -daily life in heaven; he had seen the damned writhing in the red waves -of hell; and he made us see all these things, and it was as if we were -on the spot and looking at them with our own eyes. And we felt them, -too, but there was no sign that they were anything to him beyond mere -entertainments. Those visions of hell, those poor babes and women and -girls and lads and men shrieking and supplicating in anguish—why, we -could hardly bear it, but he was as bland about it as if it had been so -many imitation rats in an artificial fire.</p> - -<p>And always when he was talking about men and women here on the earth -and their doings—even their grandest and sublimest—we were secretly -ashamed, for his manner<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">20</a></span> showed that to him they and their doings were -of paltry poor consequence; often you would think he was talking about -flies, if you didn’t know. Once he even said, in so many words, that -our people down here were quite interesting to him, notwithstanding -they were so dull and ignorant and trivial and conceited, and so -diseased and rickety, and such a shabby, poor, worthless lot all -around. He said it in a quite matter-of-course way and without -bitterness, just as a person might talk about bricks or manure or any -other thing that was of no consequence and hadn’t feelings. I could see -he meant no offense, but in my thoughts I set it down as not very good -manners.</p> - -<p>“Manners!” he said. “Why, it is merely the truth, and truth is good -manners; manners are a fiction. The castle is done. Do you like it?”</p> - -<div class="figcenter width400"> -<a href="images/i-020al.jpg"> -<img src="images/i-020a.jpg" width="400" height="494" alt="" /></a> -<div class="caption">THE LIGHTNING BLAZED OUT FLASH UPON FLASH AND SET THE -CASTLE ON FIRE</div> -</div> - -<p>Any one would have been obliged to like it. It was lovely to look -at, it was so shapely and fine, and so cunningly perfect in all -its particulars, even to the little flags waving from the turrets. -Satan said we must put the artillery in place now, and station the -halberdiers and display the cavalry. Our men and horses were a -spectacle to see, they were so little like what they were intended -for; for, of course, we had no art in making such things. Satan said -they were the worst he had seen; and when he touched them and made -them alive, it was just ridiculous the way they acted, on account of -their legs not being of uniform<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">21</a></span> lengths. They reeled and sprawled -around as if they were drunk, and endangered everybody’s lives around -them, and finally fell over and lay helpless and kicking. It made us -all laugh, though it was a shameful thing to see. The guns were charged -with dirt, to fire a salute, but they were so crooked and so badly -made that they all burst when they went off, and killed some of the -gunners and crippled the others. Satan said we would have a storm now, -and an earthquake, if we liked, but we must stand off a piece, out of -danger. We wanted to call the people away, too, but he said never mind -them; they were of no consequence, and we could make more, some time or -other, if we needed them.</p> - -<p>A small storm-cloud began to settle down black over the castle, and -the miniature lightning and thunder began to play, and the ground to -quiver, and the wind to pipe and wheeze, and the rain to fall, and all -the people flocked into the castle for shelter. The cloud settled down -blacker and blacker, and one could see the castle only dimly through -it; the lightning blazed out flash upon flash and pierced the castle -and set it on fire, and the flames shone out red and fierce through the -cloud, and the people came flying out, shrieking, but Satan brushed -them back, paying no attention to our begging and crying and imploring; -and in the midst of the howling of the wind and volleying of the -thunder the magazine blew up, the earthquake rent<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">22</a></span> the ground wide, and -the castle’s wreck and ruin tumbled into the chasm, which swallowed it -from sight and closed upon it, with all that innocent life, not one of -the five hundred poor creatures escaping. Our hearts were broken; we -could not keep from crying.</p> - -<p>“Don’t cry,” Satan said; “they were of no value.”</p> - -<p>“But they are gone to hell!”</p> - -<p>“Oh, it is no matter; we can make plenty more.”</p> - -<p>It was of no use to try to move him; evidently he was wholly without -feelings, and could not understand. He was full of bubbling spirits, -and as gay as if this were a wedding instead of a fiendish massacre. -And he was bent on making us feel as he did, and of course his magic -accomplished his desire. It was no trouble to him; he did whatever he -pleased with us. In a little while we were dancing on that grave, and -he was playing to us on a strange, sweet instrument which he took out -of his pocket; and the music—but there is no music like that, unless -perhaps in heaven, and that was where he brought it from, he said. It -made one mad, for pleasure; and we could not take our eyes from him, -and the looks that went out of our eyes came from our hearts, and their -dumb speech was worship. He brought the dance from heaven, too, and the -bliss of paradise was in it.</p> - -<p>Presently he said he must go away on an errand. But we could not bear -the thought of it, and clung to him,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">23</a></span> and pleaded with him to stay; -and that pleased him, and he said so, and said he would not go yet, -but would wait a little while and we would sit down and talk a few -minutes longer; and he told us Satan was only his real name, and he -was to be known by it to us alone, but he had chosen another one to be -called by in the presence of others; just a common one, such as people -have—Philip Traum.</p> - -<p>It sounded so odd and mean for such a being! But it was his decision, -and we said nothing; his decision was sufficient.</p> - -<p>We had seen wonders this day; and my thoughts began to run on the -pleasure it would be to tell them when I got home, but he noticed those -thoughts, and said:</p> - -<p>“No, all these matters are a secret among us four. I do not mind your -trying to tell them, if you like, but I will protect your tongues, and -nothing of the secret will escape from them.”</p> - -<p>It was a disappointment, but it couldn’t be helped, and it cost us a -sigh or two. We talked pleasantly along, and he was always reading our -thoughts and responding to them, and it seemed to me that this was the -most wonderful of all the things he did, but he interrupted my musings -and said:</p> - -<p>“No, it would be wonderful for you, but it is not wonderful for me. I -am not limited like you. I am not subject to human conditions. I can -measure and understand<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">24</a></span> your human weaknesses, for I have studied them; -but I have none of them. My flesh is not real, although it would seem -firm to your touch; my clothes are not real; I am a spirit. Father -Peter is -<a name="coming" id="coming"></a><ins title="Original omitted close quote">coming.”</ins> We looked around, but did not see any one. “He is -not in sight yet, but you will see him presently.”</p> - -<p>“Do you know him, Satan?”</p> - -<p>“No.”</p> - -<p>“Won’t you talk with him when he comes? He is not ignorant and dull, -like us, and he would so like to talk with you. Will you?”</p> - -<p>“Another time, yes, but not now. I must go on my errand after a little. -There he is now; you can see him. Sit still, and don’t say anything.”</p> - -<p>We looked up and saw Father Peter approaching through the chestnuts. -We three were sitting together in the grass, and Satan sat in front -of us in the path. Father Peter came slowly along with his head down, -thinking, and stopped within a couple of yards of us and took off his -hat and got out his silk handkerchief, and stood there mopping his -face and looking as if he were going to speak to us, but he didn’t. -Presently he muttered, “I can’t think what brought me here; it seems as -if I were in my study a minute ago—but I suppose I have been dreaming -along for an hour and have come all this stretch without noticing; for -I am not myself in these troubled days.” Then<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">25</a></span> he went mumbling along -to himself and walked straight through Satan, just as if nothing were -there. It made us catch our breath to see it. We had the impulse to -cry out, the way you nearly always do when a startling thing happens, -but something mysteriously restrained us and we remained quiet, only -breathing fast. Then the trees hid Father Peter after a little, and -Satan said:</p> - -<p>“It is as I told you—I am only a spirit.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, one perceives it now,” said Nikolaus, “but we are not spirits. It -is plain he did not see you, but were we invisible, too? He looked at -us, but he didn’t seem to see us.”</p> - -<p>“No, none of us was visible to him, for I wished it so.”</p> - -<p>It seemed almost too good to be true, that we were actually seeing -these romantic and wonderful things, and that it was not a dream. And -there he sat, looking just like anybody—so natural and simple and -charming, and chatting along again the same as ever, and—well, words -cannot make you understand what we felt. It was an ecstasy; and an -ecstasy is a thing that will not go into words; it feels like music, -and one cannot tell about music so that another person can get the -feeling of it. He was back in the old ages once more now, and making -them live before us. He had seen so much, so much! It was just a -wonder to look at him and try to think how it must seem to have such -experience behind one.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">26</a></span></p> - -<p>But it made you seem sorrowfully trivial, and the creature of a day, -and such a short and paltry day, too. And he didn’t say anything to -raise up your drooping pride—no, not a word. He always spoke of men -in the same old indifferent way—just as one speaks of bricks and -manure-piles and such things; you could see that they were of no -consequence to him, one way or the other. He didn’t mean to hurt us, -you could see that; just as we don’t mean to insult a brick when we -disparage it; a brick’s emotions are nothing to us; it never occurs to -us to think whether it has any or not.</p> - -<p>Once when he was bunching the most illustrious kings and conquerors -and poets and prophets and pirates and beggars together—just a -brick-pile—I was shamed into putting in a word for man, and asked -him why he made so much difference between men and himself. He had to -struggle with that a moment; he didn’t seem to understand how I could -ask such a strange question. Then he said:</p> - -<p>“The difference between man and me? The difference between a mortal and -an immortal? between a cloud and a spirit?” He picked up a wood-louse -that was creeping along a piece of bark: “What is the difference -between Cæsar and this?”</p> - -<p>I said, “One cannot compare things which by their nature and by the -interval between them are not comparable.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">27</a></span></p> - -<p>“You have answered your own question,” he said. “I will expand it. -Man is made of dirt—I saw him made. I am not made of dirt. Man is -a museum of diseases, a home of impurities; he comes to-day and is -gone to-morrow; he begins as dirt and departs as stench; I am of the -aristocracy of the Imperishables. And man has the <em>Moral Sense</em>. You -understand? He has the <em>Moral Sense</em>. That would seem to be difference -enough between us, all by itself.”</p> - -<p>He stopped there, as if that settled the matter. I was sorry, for at -that time I had but a dim idea of what the Moral Sense was. I merely -knew that we were proud of having it, and when he talked like that -about it, it wounded me, and I felt as a girl feels who thinks her -dearest finery is being admired and then overhears strangers making fun -of it. For a while we were all silent, and I, for one, was depressed. -Then Satan began to chat again, and soon he was sparkling along in such -a cheerful and vivacious vein that my spirits rose once more. He told -some very cunning things that put us in a gale of laughter; and when he -was telling about the time that Samson tied the torches to the foxes’ -tails and set them loose in the Philistines’ corn, and Samson sitting -on the fence slapping his thighs and laughing, with the tears running -down his cheeks, and lost his balance and fell off the fence, the -memory of that picture got him to laughing, too, and we did have a most -lovely and jolly time. By and by he said:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">28</a></span></p> - -<p>“I am going on my errand now.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t!” we all said. “Don’t go; stay with us. You won’t come back.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I will; I give you my word.”</p> - -<p>“When? To-night? Say when.”</p> - -<p>“It won’t be long. You will see.”</p> - -<p>“We like you.”</p> - -<p>“And I you. And as a proof of it I will show you something fine to see. -Usually when I go I merely vanish; but now I will dissolve myself and -let you see me do it.”</p> - -<p>He stood up, and it was quickly finished. He thinned away and thinned -away until he was a soap-bubble, except that he kept his shape. You -could see the bushes through him as clearly as you see things through -a soap-bubble, and all over him played and flashed the delicate -iridescent colors of the bubble, and along with them was that thing -shaped like a window-sash which you always see on the globe of -the bubble. You have seen a bubble strike the carpet and lightly -bound along two or three times before it bursts. He did that. He -sprang—touched the grass—bounded—floated along—touched again—and -so on, and presently exploded—puff! and in his place was vacancy.</p> - -<p>It was a strange and beautiful thing to see. We did not say anything, -but sat wondering and dreaming and blinking; and finally Seppi roused -up and said, mournfully sighing:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">29</a></span></p> - -<p>“I suppose none of it has happened.”</p> - -<p>Nikolaus sighed and said about the same.</p> - -<p>I was miserable to hear them say it, for it was the same cold fear that -was in my own mind. Then we saw poor old Father Peter wandering along -back, with his head bent down, searching the ground. When he was pretty -close to us he looked up and saw us, and said, “How long have you been -here, boys?”</p> - -<p>“A little while, Father.”</p> - -<p>“Then it is since I came by, and maybe you can help me. Did you come up -by the path?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, Father.”</p> - -<p>“That is good. I came the same way. I have lost my wallet. There wasn’t -much in it, but a very little is much to me, for it was all I had. I -suppose you haven’t seen anything of it?”</p> - -<p>“No, Father, but we will help you hunt.”</p> - -<p>“It is what I was going to ask you. Why, here it is!”</p> - -<p>We hadn’t noticed it; yet there it lay, right where Satan stood when he -began to melt—if he did melt and it wasn’t a delusion. Father Peter -picked it up and looked very much surprised.</p> - -<p>“It is mine,” he said, “but not the contents. This is fat; mine was -flat; mine was light; this is heavy.” He opened it; it was stuffed as -full as it could hold with gold coins. He let us gaze our fill; and of -course we did gaze,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">30</a></span> for we had never seen so much money at one time -before. All our mouths came open to say “Satan did it!” but nothing -came out. There it was, you see—we couldn’t tell what Satan didn’t -want told; he had said so himself.</p> - -<p>“Boys, did you do this?”</p> - -<p>It made us laugh. And it made him laugh, too, as soon as he thought -what a foolish question it was.</p> - -<p>“Who has been here?”</p> - -<p>Our mouths came open to answer, but stood so for a moment, because we -couldn’t say “Nobody,” for it wouldn’t be true, and the right word -didn’t seem to come; then I thought of the right one, and said it:</p> - -<p>“Not a human being.”</p> - -<p>“That is so,” said the others, and let their mouths go shut.</p> - -<p>“It is not so,” said Father Peter, and looked at us very severely. -“I came by here a while ago, and there was no one here, but that is -nothing; some one has been here since. I don’t mean to say that the -person didn’t pass here before you came, and I don’t mean to say you -saw him, but some one did pass, that I know. On your honor—you saw no -one?”</p> - -<p>“Not a human being.”</p> - -<p>“That is sufficient; I know you are telling me the truth.”</p> - -<p>He began to count the money on the path, we on our knees eagerly -helping to stack it in little piles.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">31</a></span></p> - -<p>“It’s eleven hundred ducats odd!” he said. “Oh dear! if it were only -mine—and I need it so!” and his voice broke and his lips quivered.</p> - -<p>“It is yours, sir!” we all cried out at once, “every heller!”</p> - -<p>“No—it isn’t mine. Only four ducats are mine; the rest...!” He fell to -dreaming, poor old soul, and caressing some of the coins in his hands, -and forgot where he was, sitting there on his heels with his old gray -head bare; it was pitiful to see. “No,” he said, waking up, “it isn’t -mine. I can’t account for it. I think some enemy ... it must be a trap.”</p> - -<p>Nikolaus said: “Father Peter, with the exception of the astrologer you -haven’t a real enemy in the village—nor Marget, either. And not even a -half-enemy that’s rich enough to chance eleven hundred ducats to do you -a mean turn. I’ll ask you if that’s so or not?”</p> - -<p>He couldn’t get around that argument, and it cheered him up. “But it -isn’t mine, you see—it isn’t mine, in any case.”</p> - -<p>He said it in a wistful way, like a person that wouldn’t be sorry, but -glad, if anybody would contradict him.</p> - -<p>“It is yours, Father Peter, and we are witness to it. Aren’t we, boys?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, we are—and we’ll stand by it, too.”</p> - -<p>“Bless your hearts, you do almost persuade me; you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">32</a></span> do, indeed. If I -had only a hundred-odd ducats of it! The house is mortgaged for it, and -we’ve no home for our heads if we don’t pay to-morrow. And that four -ducats is all we’ve got in the—”</p> - -<p>“It’s yours, every bit of it, and you’ve got to take it—we are bail -that it’s all right. Aren’t we, Theodor? Aren’t we, Seppi?”</p> - -<p>We two said yes, and Nikolaus stuffed the money back into the shabby -old wallet and made the owner take it. So he said he would use two -hundred of it, for his house was good enough security for that, and -would put the rest at interest till the rightful owner came for it; -and on our side we must sign a paper showing how he got the money—a -paper to show to the villagers as proof that he had not got out of his -troubles dishonestly.</p> - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<hr class="divider" /> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">33</a></span> -<h2><a name="iv" id="iv"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> -</div> - -<p class="noi"><span class="dropcap">I</span>T made immense talk next day, when Father Peter paid Solomon Isaacs in -gold and left the rest of the money with him at interest. Also, there -was a pleasant change; many people called at the house to congratulate -him, and a number of cool old friends became kind and friendly again; -and, to top all, Marget was invited to a party.</p> - -<p>And there was no mystery; Father Peter told the whole circumstance just -as it happened, and said he could not account for it, only it was the -plain hand of Providence, so far as he could see.</p> - -<p>One or two shook their heads and said privately it looked more like the -hand of Satan; and really that seemed a surprisingly good guess for -ignorant people like that. Some came slyly buzzing around and tried -to coax us boys to come out and “tell the truth”; and promised they -wouldn’t ever tell, but only wanted to know for their own satisfaction, -because the whole thing was so curious. They even wanted to buy the -secret, and pay money for it; and if we could have invented something -that would answer—but we couldn’t; we hadn’t the ingenuity, so we had -to let the chance go by, and it was a pity.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">34</a></span> -We carried that secret around without any trouble, but the other one, -the big one, the splendid one, burned the very vitals of us, it was -so hot to get out and we so hot to let it out and astonish people -with it. But we had to keep it in; in fact, it kept itself in. Satan -said it would, and it did. We went off every day and got to ourselves -in the woods so that we could talk about Satan, and really that was -the only subject we thought of or cared anything about; and day and -night we watched for him and hoped he would come, and we got more -and more impatient all the time. We hadn’t any interest in the other -boys any more, and wouldn’t take part in their games and enterprises. -They seemed so tame, after Satan; and their doings so trifling and -commonplace after his adventures in antiquity and the constellations, -and his miracles and meltings and explosions, and all that.</p> - -<p>During the first day we were in a state of anxiety on account of one -thing, and we kept going to Father Peter’s house on one pretext or -another to keep track of it. That was the gold coin; we were afraid it -would crumble and turn to dust, like fairy money. If it did—But it -didn’t. At the end of the day no complaint had been made about it, so -after that we were satisfied that it was real gold, and dropped the -anxiety out of our minds.</p> - -<p>There was a question which we wanted to ask Father Peter, and finally -we went there the second evening, a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">35</a></span> little diffidently, after drawing -straws, and I asked it as casually as I could, though it did not sound -as casual as I wanted, because I didn’t know how:</p> - -<p>“What is the Moral Sense, sir?”</p> - -<p>He looked down, surprised, over his great spectacles, and said, “Why, -it is the faculty which enables us to distinguish good from evil.”</p> - -<p>It threw some light, but not a glare, and I was a little disappointed, -also to some degree embarrassed. He was waiting for me to go on, so, in -default of anything else to say, I asked, “Is it valuable?”</p> - -<p>“Valuable? Heavens! lad, it is the one thing that lifts man above the -beasts that perish and makes him heir to immortality!”</p> - -<p>This did not remind me of anything further to say, so I got out, with -the other boys, and we went away with that indefinite sense you have -often had of being filled but not fatted. They wanted me to explain, -but I was tired.</p> - -<p>We passed out through the parlor, and there was Marget at the spinnet -teaching Marie Lueger. So one of the deserting pupils was back; and an -influential one, too; the others would follow. Marget jumped up and -ran and thanked us again, with tears in her eyes—this was the third -time—for saving her and her uncle from being turned into the street, -and we told her again we hadn’t done it; but that was her way, she -never could be grateful enough<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">36</a></span> for anything a person did for her; so -we let her have her say. And as we passed through the garden, there was -Wilhelm Meidling sitting there waiting, for it was getting toward the -edge of the evening, and he would be asking Marget to take a walk along -the river with him when she was done with the lesson. He was a young -lawyer, and succeeding fairly well and working his way along, little -by little. He was very fond of Marget, and she of him. He had not -deserted along with the others, but had stood his ground all through. -His faithfulness was not lost on Marget and her uncle. He hadn’t so -very much talent, but he was handsome and good, and these are a kind -of talents themselves and help along. He asked us how the lesson was -getting along, and we told him it was about done. And maybe it was so; -we didn’t know anything about it, but we judged it would please him, -and it did, and didn’t cost us anything.</p> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<hr class="divider" /> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">37</a></span> -<h2><a name="v" id="v"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> -</div> - -<p class="noi"><span class="dropcap">O</span>N the fourth day comes the astrologer from his crumbling old tower up -the valley, where he had heard the news, I reckon. He had a private -talk with us, and we told him what we could, for we were mightily in -dread of him. He sat there studying and studying awhile to himself; -then he asked:</p> - -<p>“How many ducats did you say?”</p> - -<p>“Eleven hundred and seven, sir.”</p> - -<p>Then he said, as if he were talking to himself: “It is ver-y singular. -Yes ... very strange. A curious coincidence.” Then he began to ask -questions, and went over the whole ground from the beginning, we -answering. By and by he said: “Eleven hundred and six ducats. It is a -large sum.”</p> - -<p>“Seven,” said Seppi, correcting him.</p> - -<p>“Oh, seven, was it? Of course a ducat more or less isn’t of -consequence, but you said eleven hundred and six before.”</p> - -<p>It would not have been safe for us to say he was mistaken, but we knew -he was. Nikolaus said, “We ask pardon for the mistake, but we meant to -say seven.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">38</a></span></p> - -<p>“Oh, it is no matter, lad; it was merely that I noticed the -discrepancy. It is several days, and you cannot be expected to remember -precisely. One is apt to be inexact when there is no particular -circumstance to impress the count upon the memory.”</p> - -<p>“But there was one, sir,” said Seppi, eagerly.</p> - -<p>“What was it, my son?” asked the astrologer, indifferently.</p> - -<p>“First, we all counted the piles of coin, each in turn, and all made -it the same—eleven hundred and six. But I had slipped one out, for -fun, when the count began, and now I slipped it back and said, ‘I think -there is a mistake—there are eleven hundred and seven; let us count -again.’ We did, and of course I was right. They were astonished; then I -told how it came about.”</p> - -<p>The astrologer asked us if this was so, and we said it was.</p> - -<p>“That settles it,” he said. “I know the thief now. Lads, the money was -stolen.”</p> - -<div class="figcenter width400"> -<a href="images/i-038al.jpg"> -<img src="images/i-038a.jpg" width="400" height="501" alt="" /></a> -<div class="caption">ON THE FOURTH DAY COMES THE ASTROLOGER FROM HIS -CRUMBLING OLD TOWER</div> -</div> - -<p>Then he went away, leaving us very much troubled, and wondering what -he could mean. In about an hour we found out; for by that time it was -all over the village that Father Peter had been arrested for stealing -a great sum of money from the astrologer. Everybody’s tongue was loose -and going. Many said it was not in Father Peter’s character and must be -a mistake; but the others shook their heads and said misery and want -could drive a suffering<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">39</a></span> man to almost anything. About one detail -there were no differences; all agreed that Father Peter’s account of -how the money came into his hands was just about unbelievable—it -had such an impossible look. They said it might have come into the -astrologer’s hands in some such way, but into Father Peter’s, never! -Our characters began to suffer now. We were Father Peter’s only -witnesses; how much did he probably pay us to back up his fantastic -tale? People talked that kind of talk to us pretty freely and frankly, -and were full of scoffings when we begged them to believe really we had -told only the truth. Our parents were harder on us than any one else. -Our fathers said we were disgracing our families, and they commanded us -to purge ourselves of our lie, and there was no limit to their anger -when we continued to say we had spoken true. Our mothers cried over us -and begged us to give back our bribe and get back our honest names and -save our families from shame, and come out and honorably confess. And -at last we were so worried and harassed that we tried to tell the whole -thing, Satan and all—but no, it wouldn’t come out. We were hoping -and longing all the time that Satan would come and help us out of our -trouble, but there was no sign of him.</p> - -<p>Within an hour after the astrologer’s talk with us, Father Peter was -in prison and the money sealed up and in the hands of the officers of -the law. The money was in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">40</a></span> a bag, and Solomon Isaacs said he had not -touched it since he had counted it; his oath was taken that it was the -same money, and that the amount was eleven hundred and seven ducats. -Father Peter claimed trial by the ecclesiastical court, but our other -priest, Father Adolf, said an ecclesiastical court hadn’t jurisdiction -over a suspended priest. The bishop upheld him. That settled it; the -case would go to trial in the civil court. The court would not sit for -some time to come. Wilhelm Meidling would be Father Peter’s lawyer and -do the best he could, of course, but he told us privately that a weak -case on his side and all the power and prejudice on the other made the -outlook bad.</p> - -<p>So Marget’s new happiness died a quick death. No friends came to -condole with her, and none were expected; an unsigned note withdrew her -invitation to the party. There would be no scholars to take lessons. -How could she support herself? She could remain in the house, for the -mortgage was paid off, though the government and not poor Solomon -Isaacs had the mortgage-money in its grip for the present. Old Ursula, -who was cook, chambermaid, housekeeper, laundress, and everything else -for Father Peter, and had been Marget’s nurse in earlier years, said -God would provide. But she said that from habit, for she was a good -Christian. She meant to help in the providing, to make sure, if she -could find a way.</p> - -<p>We boys wanted to go and see Marget and show friendliness<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">41</a></span> for her, but -our parents were afraid of offending the community and wouldn’t let -us. The astrologer was going around inflaming everybody against Father -Peter, and saying he was an abandoned thief and had stolen eleven -hundred and seven gold ducats from him. He said he knew he was a thief -from that fact, for it was exactly the sum he had lost and which Father -Peter pretended he had “found.”</p> - -<p>In the afternoon of the fourth day after the catastrophe old Ursula -appeared at our house and asked for some washing to do, and begged my -mother to keep this secret, to save Marget’s pride, who would stop this -project if she found it out, yet Marget had not enough to eat and was -growing weak. Ursula was growing weak herself, and showed it; and she -ate of the food that was offered her like a starving person, but could -not be persuaded to carry any home, for Marget would not eat charity -food. She took some clothes down to the stream to wash them, but we saw -from the window that handling the bat was too much for her strength; so -she was called back and a trifle of money offered her, which she was -afraid to take lest Marget should suspect; then she took it, saying she -would explain that she found it in the road. To keep it from being a -lie and damning her soul, she got me to drop it while she watched; then -she went along by there and found it, and exclaimed with surprise and -joy, and picked it up and went her way. Like the rest of the village, -she could tell<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">42</a></span> every-day lies fast enough and without taking any -precautions against fire and brimstone on their account; but this was a -new kind of lie, and it had a dangerous look because she hadn’t had any -practice in it. After a week’s practice it wouldn’t have given her any -trouble. It is the way we are made.</p> - -<p>I was in trouble, for how would Marget live? Ursula could not find a -coin in the road every day—perhaps not even a second one. And I was -ashamed, too, for not having been near Marget, and she so in need of -friends; but that was my parents’ fault, not mine, and I couldn’t help -it.</p> - -<p>I was walking along the path, feeling very downhearted, when a most -cheery and tingling freshening-up sensation went rippling through me, -and I was too glad for any words, for I knew by that sign that Satan -was by. I had noticed it before. Next moment he was alongside of me -and I was telling him all my trouble and what had been happening to -Marget and her uncle. While we were talking we turned a curve and saw -old Ursula resting in the shade of a tree, and she had a lean stray -kitten in her lap and was petting it. I asked her where she got it, and -she said it came out of the woods and followed her; and she said it -probably hadn’t any mother or any friends and she was going to take it -home and take care of it. Satan said:</p> - -<p>“I understand you are very poor. Why do you want<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">43</a></span> to add another mouth -to feed? Why don’t you give it to some rich person?”</p> - -<p>Ursula bridled at this and said: “Perhaps you would like to have it. -You must be rich, with your fine clothes and quality airs.” Then she -sniffed and said: “Give it to the rich—the idea! The rich don’t care -for anybody but themselves; it’s only the poor that have feeling for -the poor, and help them. The poor and God. God will provide for this -kitten.”</p> - -<p>“What makes you think so?”</p> - -<p>Ursula’s eyes snapped with anger. “Because I know it!” she said. “Not a -sparrow falls to the ground without His seeing it.”</p> - -<p>“But it falls, just the same. What good is seeing it fall?”</p> - -<p>Old Ursula’s jaws worked, but she could not get any word out for the -moment, she was so horrified. When she got her tongue she stormed out, -“Go about your business, you puppy, or I will take a stick to you!”</p> - -<p>I could not speak, I was so scared. I knew that with his notions about -the human race Satan would consider it a matter of no consequence to -strike her dead, there being “plenty more”; but my tongue stood still, -I could give her no warning. But nothing happened; Satan remained -tranquil—tranquil and indifferent. I suppose he could not be insulted -by Ursula any more than the king could be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">44</a></span> insulted by a tumble-bug. -The old woman jumped to her feet when she made her remark, and did it -as briskly as a young girl. It had been many years since she had done -the like of that. That was Satan’s influence; he was a fresh breeze to -the weak and the sick, wherever he came. His presence affected even -the lean kitten, and it skipped to the ground and began to chase a -leaf. This surprised Ursula, and she stood looking at the creature and -nodding her head wonderingly, her anger quite forgotten.</p> - -<p>“What’s come over it?” she said. “Awhile ago it could hardly walk.”</p> - -<p>“You have not seen a kitten of that breed before,” said Satan.</p> - -<p>Ursula was not proposing to be friendly with the mocking stranger, and -she gave him an ungentle look and retorted: “Who asked you to come here -and pester me, I’d like to know? And what do you know about what I’ve -seen and what I haven’t seen?”</p> - -<p>“You haven’t seen a kitten with the hair-spines on its tongue pointing -to the front, have you?”</p> - -<p>“No—nor you, either.”</p> - -<p>“Well, examine this one and see.”</p> - -<p>Ursula was become pretty spry, but the kitten was spryer, and she could -not catch it, and had to give it up. Then Satan said:</p> - -<p>“Give it a name, and maybe it will come.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">45</a></span></p> - -<p>Ursula tried several names, but the kitten was not interested.</p> - -<p>“Call it Agnes. Try that.”</p> - -<p>The creature answered to the name and came. Ursula examined its tongue. -“Upon my word, it’s true!” she said. “I have not seen this kind of a -cat before. Is it yours?”</p> - -<p>“No.”</p> - -<p>“Then how did you know its name so pat?”</p> - -<p>“Because all cats of that breed are named Agnes; they will not answer -to any other.”</p> - -<p>Ursula was impressed. “It is the most wonderful thing!” Then a shadow -of trouble came into her face, for her superstitions were aroused, and -she reluctantly put the creature down, saying: “I suppose I must let -it go; I am not afraid—no, not exactly that, though the priest—well, -I’ve heard people—indeed, many people.... And, besides, it is quite -well now and can take care of itself.” She sighed, and turned to -go, murmuring: “It is such a pretty one, too, and would be such -company—and the house is so sad and lonesome these troubled days ... -Miss Marget so mournful and just a shadow, and the old master shut up -in jail.”</p> - -<p>“It seems a pity not to keep it,” said Satan.</p> - -<p>Ursula turned quickly—just as if she were hoping some one would -encourage her.</p> - -<p>“Why?” she asked, wistfully.</p> - -<p>“Because this breed brings luck.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">46</a></span></p> - -<p>“Does it? Is it true? Young man, do you know it to be true? How does it -bring luck?”</p> - -<p>“Well, it brings money, anyway.”</p> - -<p>Ursula looked disappointed. “Money? A cat bring money? The idea! You -could never sell it here; people do not buy cats here; one can’t even -give them away.” She turned to go.</p> - -<p>“I don’t mean sell it. I mean have an income from it. This kind is -called the Lucky Cat. Its owner finds four silver groschen in his -pocket every -<a name="morning" id="morning"></a><ins title="Original omitted close quote">morning.”</ins></p> - -<p>I saw the indignation rising in the old woman’s face. She was insulted. -This boy was making fun of her. That was her thought. She thrust her -hands into her pockets and straightened up to give him a piece of her -mind. Her temper was all up, and hot. Her mouth came open and let out -three words of a bitter sentence, ... then it fell silent, and the -anger in her face turned to surprise or wonder or fear, or something, -and she slowly brought out her hands from her pockets and opened them -and held them so. In one was my piece of money, in the other lay four -silver <a name="groschen" id="groschen"></a><ins title="Original has groshchen">groschen</ins>. -She gazed a little while, perhaps to see -if the groschen would vanish away; then she said, fervently:</p> - -<p>“It’s true—it’s true—and I’m ashamed and beg forgiveness, O dear -master and benefactor!” And she ran to Satan and kissed his hand, over -and over again, according to the Austrian custom.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">47</a></span> -In her heart she probably believed it was a witch-cat and an agent of -the Devil; but no matter, it was all the more certain to be able to -keep its contract and furnish a daily good living for the family, for -in matters of finance even the piousest of our peasants would have more -confidence in an arrangement with the Devil than with an archangel. -Ursula started homeward, with Agnes in her arms, and I said I wished I -had her privilege of seeing Marget.</p> - -<p>Then I caught my breath, for we were there. There in the parlor, and -Marget standing looking at us, astonished. She was feeble and pale, -but I knew that those conditions would not last in Satan’s atmosphere, -and it turned out so. I introduced Satan—that is, Philip Traum—and -we sat down and talked. There was no constraint. We were simple folk, -in our village, and when a stranger was a pleasant person we were -soon friends. Marget wondered how we got in without her hearing us. -Traum said the door was open, and we walked in and waited until she -should turn around and greet us. This was not true; no door was open; -we entered through the walls or the roof or down the chimney, or -somehow; but no matter, what Satan wished a person to believe, the -person was sure to believe, and so Marget was quite satisfied with that -explanation. And then the main part of her mind was on Traum, anyway; -she couldn’t keep her eyes off him, he was so beautiful. That gratified -me, and made me proud.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">48</a></span> I hoped he would show off some, but he didn’t. -He seemed only interested in being friendly and telling lies. He said -he was an orphan. That made Marget pity him. The water came into her -eyes. He said he had never known his mamma; she passed away while he -was a young thing; and said his papa was in shattered health, and had -no property to speak of—in fact, none of any earthly value—but he had -an uncle in business down in the tropics, and he was very well off and -had a monopoly, and it was from this uncle that he drew his support. -The very mention of a kind uncle was enough to remind Marget of her -own, and her eyes filled again. She said she hoped their two uncles -would meet, some day. It made me shudder. Philip said he hoped so, too; -and that made me shudder again.</p> - -<p>“Maybe they will,” said Marget. “Does your uncle travel much?”</p> - -<p>“Oh yes, he goes all about; he has business everywhere.”</p> - -<p>And so they went on chatting, and poor Marget forgot her sorrows for -one little while, anyway. It was probably the only really bright and -cheery hour she had known lately. I saw she liked Philip, and I knew -she would. And when he told her he was studying for the ministry I -could see that she liked him better than ever. And then, when he -promised to get her admitted to the jail so that she could see her -uncle, that was the capstone. He said he would give the guards a little -present, and she must<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">49</a></span> always go in the evening after dark, and say -nothing, “but just show this paper and pass in, and show it again when -you come out”—and he scribbled some queer marks on the paper and gave -it to her, and she was ever so thankful, and right away was in a fever -for the sun to go down; for in that old, cruel time prisoners were not -allowed to see their friends, and sometimes they spent years in the -jails without ever seeing a friendly face. I judged that the marks on -the paper were an enchantment, and that the guards would not know what -they were doing, nor have any memory of it afterward; and that was -indeed the way of it. Ursula put her head in at the door now and said:</p> - -<p>“Supper’s ready, miss.” Then she saw us and looked frightened, and -motioned me to come to her, which I did, and she asked if we had told -about the cat. I said no, and she was relieved, and said please don’t; -for if Miss Marget knew, she would think it was an unholy cat and would -send for a priest and have its gifts all purified out of it, and then -there wouldn’t be any more dividends. So I said we wouldn’t tell, and -she was satisfied. Then I was beginning to say good-by to Marget, but -Satan interrupted and said, ever so politely—well, I don’t remember -just the words, but anyway he as good as invited himself to supper, and -me, too. Of course Marget was miserably embarrassed, for she had no -reason to suppose there would be half enough for a sick bird. Ursula -heard him, and she came straight<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">50</a></span> into the room, not a bit pleased. At -first she was astonished to see Marget looking so fresh and rosy, and -said so; then she spoke up in her native tongue, which was Bohemian, -and said—as I learned afterward—“Send him away, Miss Marget; there’s -not victuals enough.”</p> - -<p>Before Marget could speak, Satan had the word, and was talking back at -Ursula in her own language—which was a surprise to her, and for her -mistress, too. He said, “Didn’t I see you down the road awhile ago?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, sir.”</p> - -<p>“Ah, that pleases me; I see you remember me.” He stepped to her and -whispered: “I told you it is a Lucky Cat. Don’t be troubled; it will -provide.”</p> - -<p>That sponged the slate of Ursula’s feelings clean of its anxieties, -and a deep, financial joy shone in her eyes. The cat’s value was -augmenting. It was getting full time for Marget to take some sort of -notice of Satan’s invitation, and she did it in the best way, the -honest way that was natural to her. She said she had little to offer, -but that we were welcome if we would share it with her.</p> - -<p>We had supper in the kitchen, and Ursula waited at table. A small fish -was in the frying-pan, crisp and brown and tempting, and one could see -that Marget was not expecting such respectable food as this. Ursula -brought it, and Marget divided it between Satan and me, declining to -take any of it herself; and was beginning to say she did<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">51</a></span> not care -for fish to-day, but she did not finish the remark. It was because -she noticed that another fish had appeared in the pan. She looked -surprised, but did not say anything. She probably meant to inquire of -Ursula about this later. There were other surprises: flesh and game and -wines and fruits—things which had been strangers in that house lately; -but Marget made no exclamations, and now even looked unsurprised, -which was Satan’s influence, of course. Satan talked right along, and -was entertaining, and made the time pass pleasantly and cheerfully; -and although he told a good many lies, it was no harm in him, for he -was only an angel and did not know any better. They do not know right -from wrong; I knew this, because I remembered what he had said about -it. He got on the good side of Ursula. He praised her to Marget, -confidentially, but speaking just loud enough for Ursula to hear. He -said she was a fine woman, and he hoped some day to bring her and his -uncle together. Very soon Ursula was mincing and simpering around in -a ridiculous, girly way, and smoothing out her gown and prinking at -herself like a foolish old hen, and all the time pretending she was -not hearing what Satan was saying. I was ashamed, for it showed us to -be what Satan considered us, a silly race and trivial. Satan said his -uncle entertained a great deal, and to have a clever woman presiding -over the festivities would double the attractions of the place.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">52</a></span> -“But your uncle is a gentleman, isn’t he?” asked Marget.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said Satan, indifferently; “some even call him a Prince, out of -compliment, but he is not bigoted; to him personal merit is everything, -rank nothing.”</p> - -<p>My hand was hanging down by my chair; Agnes came along and licked it; -by this act a secret was revealed. I started to say, “It is all a -mistake; this is just a common, ordinary cat; the hair-needles on her -tongue point inward, not outward.” But the words did not come, because -they couldn’t. Satan smiled upon me, and I understood.</p> - -<p>When it was dark Marget took food and wine and fruit, in a basket, -and hurried away to the jail, and Satan and I walked toward my home. -I was thinking to myself that I should like to see what the inside of -the jail was like; Satan overheard the thought, and the next moment we -were in the jail. We were in the torture-chamber, Satan said. The rack -was there, and the other instruments, and there was a smoky lantern -or two hanging on the walls and helping to make the place look dim -and dreadful. There were people there—and executioners—but as they -took no notice of us, it meant that we were invisible. A young man -lay bound, and Satan said he was suspected of being a heretic, and -the executioners were about to inquire into it. They asked the man -to confess to the charge, and he said he could not, for it was not -true. Then they drove splinter after splinter under his nails, and -he shrieked with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">53</a></span> the pain. Satan was not disturbed, but I could not -endure it, and had to be whisked out of there. I was faint and sick, -but the fresh air revived me, and we walked toward my home. I said it -was a brutal thing.</p> - -<p>“No, it was a human thing. You should not insult the brutes by such a -misuse of that word; they have not deserved it,” and he went on talking -like that. “It is like your paltry race—always lying, always claiming -virtues which it hasn’t got, always denying them to the higher animals, -which alone possess them. No brute ever does a cruel thing—that is -the monopoly of those with the Moral Sense. When a brute inflicts pain -he does it innocently; it is not wrong; for him there is no such thing -as wrong. And he does not inflict pain for the pleasure of inflicting -it—only man does that. Inspired by that mongrel Moral Sense of his! A -sense whose function is to distinguish between right and wrong, with -liberty to choose which of them he will do. Now what advantage can he -get out of that? He is always choosing, and in nine cases out of ten he -prefers the wrong. There shouldn’t be any wrong; and without the Moral -Sense there couldn’t be any. And yet he is such an unreasoning creature -that he is not able to perceive that the Moral Sense degrades him to -the bottom layer of animated beings and is a shameful possession. Are -you feeling better? Let me show you something.”</p> - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<hr class="divider" /> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">54</a></span> -<h2><a name="vi" id="vi"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> -</div> - -<p class="noi"><span class="dropcap">I</span>N a moment we were in a French village. We walked through a great -factory of some sort, where men and women and little children were -toiling in heat and dirt and a fog of dust; and they were clothed in -rags, and drooped at their work, for they were worn and half starved, -and weak and drowsy. Satan said:</p> - -<p>“It is some more Moral Sense. The proprietors are rich, and very holy; -but the wage they pay to these poor brothers and sisters of theirs is -only enough to keep them from dropping dead with hunger. The work-hours -are fourteen per day, winter and summer—from six in the morning till -eight at night—little children and all. And they walk to and from -the pigsties which they inhabit—four miles each way, through mud and -slush, rain, snow, sleet, and storm, daily, year in and year out. They -get four hours of sleep. They kennel together, three families in a -room, in unimaginable filth and stench; and disease comes, and they die -off like flies. Have they committed a crime, these mangy things? No. -What have they done, that they are punished so? Nothing at all, except -getting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">55</a></span> themselves born into your foolish race. You have seen how -they treat a misdoer there in the jail; now you see how they treat the -innocent and the worthy. Is your race logical? Are these ill-smelling -innocents better off than that heretic? Indeed, no; his punishment is -trivial compared with theirs. They broke him on the wheel and smashed -him to rags and pulp after we left, and he is dead now, and free of -your precious race; but these poor slaves here—why, they have been -dying for years, and some of them will not escape from life for years -to come. It is the Moral Sense which teaches the factory proprietors -the difference between right and wrong—you perceive the result. They -think themselves better than dogs. Ah, you are such an illogical, -unreasoning race! And paltry—oh, unspeakably!”</p> - -<p>Then he dropped all seriousness and just overstrained himself -making fun of us, and deriding our pride in our warlike deeds, our -great heroes, our imperishable fames, our mighty kings, our ancient -aristocracies, our venerable history—and laughed and laughed till it -was enough to make a person sick to hear him; and finally he sobered a -little and said, “But, after all, it is not all ridiculous; there is a -sort of pathos about it when one remembers how few are your days, how -childish your pomps, and what shadows you are!”</p> - -<p>Presently all things vanished suddenly from my sight,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">56</a></span> and I knew what -it meant. The next moment we were walking along in our village; and -down toward the river I saw the twinkling lights of the Golden Stag. -Then in the dark I heard a joyful cry:</p> - -<p>“He’s come again!”</p> - -<p>It was Seppi Wohlmeyer. He had felt his blood leap and his spirits -rise in a way that could mean only one thing, and he knew Satan was -near, although it was too dark to see him. He came to us, and we walked -along together, and Seppi poured out his gladness like water. It was -as if he were a lover and had found his sweetheart who had been lost. -Seppi was a smart and animated boy, and had enthusiasm and expression, -and was a contrast to Nikolaus and me. He was full of the last new -mystery, now—the disappearance of Hans Oppert, the village loafer. -People were beginning to be curious about it, he said. He did not say -anxious—curious was the right word, and strong enough. No one had seen -Hans for a couple of days.</p> - -<p>“Not since he did that brutal thing, you know,” he said.</p> - -<p>“What brutal thing?” It was Satan that asked.</p> - -<p>“Well, he is always clubbing his dog, which is a good dog, and his -only friend, and is faithful, and loves him, and does no one any -harm; and two days ago he was at it again, just for nothing—just -for pleasure—and the dog was howling and begging, and Theodor and I -begged, too,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">57</a></span> but he threatened us, and struck the dog again with all -his might and knocked one of his eyes out, and he said to us, ‘There, -I hope you are satisfied now; that’s what you have got for him by your -damned meddling’—and he laughed, the heartless brute.” Seppi’s voice -trembled with pity and anger. I guessed what Satan would say, and he -said it.</p> - -<p>“There is that misused word again—that shabby slander. Brutes do not -act like that, but only men.”</p> - -<p>“Well, it was inhuman, anyway.”</p> - -<p>“No, it wasn’t, Seppi; it was human—quite distinctly human. It is not -pleasant to hear you libel the higher animals by attributing to them -dispositions which they are free from, and which are found nowhere but -in the human heart. None of the higher animals is tainted with the -disease called the Moral Sense. Purify your language, Seppi; drop those -lying phrases out of it.”</p> - -<p>He spoke pretty sternly—for him—and I was sorry I hadn’t warned -Seppi to be more particular about the word he used. I knew how he was -feeling. He would not want to offend Satan; he would rather offend all -his kin. There was an uncomfortable silence, but relief soon came, -for that poor dog came along now, with his eye hanging down, and went -straight to Satan, and began to moan and mutter brokenly, and Satan -began to answer in the same way, and it was plain that they were -talking together in the dog<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">58</a></span> language. We all sat down in the grass, in -the moonlight, for the clouds were breaking away now, and Satan took -the dog’s head in his lap and put the eye back in its place, and the -dog was comfortable, and he wagged his tail and licked Satan’s hand, -and looked thankful and said the same; I knew he was saying it, though -I did not understand the words. Then the two talked together a bit, and -Satan said:</p> - -<p>“He says his master was drunk.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, he was,” said we.</p> - -<p>“And an hour later he fell over the precipice there beyond the Cliff -Pasture.”</p> - -<p>“We know the place; it is three miles from here.”</p> - -<p>“And the dog has been often to the village, begging people to go there, -but he was only driven away and not listened to.”</p> - -<p>We remembered it, but hadn’t understood what he wanted.</p> - -<p>“He only wanted help for the man who had misused him, and he thought -only of that, and has had no food nor sought any. He has watched by his -master two nights. What do you think of your race? Is heaven reserved -for it, and this dog ruled out, as your teachers tell you? Can your -race add anything to this dog’s stock of morals and magnanimities?” He -spoke to the creature, who jumped up, eager and happy, and apparently -ready for orders and impatient to execute them. “Get some men; go with -the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">59</a></span> dog—he will show you that carrion; and take a priest along to -arrange about insurance, for death is near.”</p> - -<p>With the last word he vanished, to our sorrow and disappointment. We -got the men and Father Adolf, and we saw the man die. Nobody cared but -the dog; he mourned and grieved, and licked the dead face, and could -not be comforted. We buried him where he was, and without a coffin, -for he had no money, and no friend but the dog. If we had been an hour -earlier the priest would have been in time to send that poor creature -to heaven, but now he was gone down into the awful fires, to burn -forever. It seemed such a pity that in a world where so many people -have difficulty to put in their time, one little hour could not have -been spared for this poor creature who needed it so much, and to whom -it would have made the difference between eternal joy and eternal -pain. It gave an appalling idea of the value of an hour, and I thought -I could never waste one again without remorse and terror. Seppi was -depressed and grieved, and said it must be so much better to be a dog -and not run such awful risks. We took this one home with us and kept -him for our own. Seppi had a very good thought as we were walking -along, and it cheered us up and made us feel much better. He said the -dog had forgiven the man that had wronged him so, and maybe God would -accept that absolution.</p> - -<p>There was a very dull week, now, for Satan did not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">60</a></span> come, nothing much -was going on, and we boys could not venture to go and see Marget, -because the nights were moonlit and our parents might find us out if -we tried. But we came across Ursula a couple of times taking a walk in -the meadows beyond the river to air the cat, and we learned from her -that things were going well. She had natty new clothes on and bore a -prosperous look. The four groschen a day were arriving without a break, -but were not being spent for food and wine and such things—the cat -attended to all that.</p> - -<p>Marget was enduring her forsakenness and isolation fairly well, all -things considered, and was cheerful, by help of Wilhelm Meidling. She -spent an hour or two every night in the jail with her uncle, and had -fattened him up with the cat’s contributions. But she was curious to -know more about Philip Traum, and hoped I would bring him again. Ursula -was curious about him herself, and asked a good many questions about -his uncle. It made the boys laugh, for I had told them the nonsense -Satan had been stuffing her with. She got no satisfaction out of us, -our tongues being tied.</p> - -<div class="figcenter width400"> -<a href="images/i-060al.jpg"> -<img src="images/i-060a.jpg" width="400" height="504" alt="" /></a> -<div class="caption">MARGET WAS CHEERFUL BY HELP OF WILHELM MEIDLING</div> -</div> - -<p>Ursula gave us a small item of information: money being plenty now, -she had taken on a servant to help about the house and run errands. -She tried to tell it in a commonplace, matter-of-course way, but she -was so set up by it and so vain of it that her pride in it leaked out -pretty<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">61</a></span> plainly. It was beautiful to see her veiled delight in this -grandeur, poor old thing, but when we heard the name of the servant we -wondered if she had been altogether wise; for although we were young, -and often thoughtless, we had fairly good perception on some matters. -This boy was Gottfried Narr, a dull, good creature, with no harm in him -and nothing against him personally; still, he was under a cloud, and -properly so, for it had not been six months since a social blight had -mildewed the family—his grandmother had been burned as a witch. When -that kind of a malady is in the blood it does not always come out with -just one burning. Just now was not a good time for Ursula and Marget to -be having dealings with a member of such a family, for the witch-terror -had risen higher during the past year than it had ever reached in the -memory of the oldest villagers. The mere mention of a witch was almost -enough to frighten us out of our wits. This was natural enough, because -of late years there were more kinds of witches than there used to be; -in old times it had been only old women, but of late years they were -of all ages—even children of eight and nine; it was getting so that -anybody might turn out to be a familiar of the Devil—age and sex -hadn’t anything to do with it. In our little region we had tried to -extirpate the witches, but the more of them we burned the more of the -breed rose up in their places.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">62</a></span></p> - -<p>Once, in a school for girls only ten miles away, the teachers found -that the back of one of the girls was all red and inflamed, and they -were greatly frightened, believing it to be the Devil’s marks. The girl -was scared, and begged them not to denounce her, and said it was only -fleas; but of course it would not do to let the matter rest there. -All the girls were examined, and eleven out of the fifty were badly -marked, the rest less so. A commission was appointed, but the eleven -only cried for their mothers and would not confess. Then they were shut -up, each by herself, in the dark, and put on black bread and water -for ten days and nights; and by that time they were haggard and wild, -and their eyes were dry and they did not cry any more, but only sat -and mumbled, and would not take the food. Then one of them confessed, -and said they had often ridden through the air on broomsticks to the -witches’ Sabbath, and in a bleak place high up in the mountains had -danced and drunk and caroused with several hundred other witches and -the Evil One, and all had conducted themselves in a scandalous way and -had reviled the priests and blasphemed God. That is what she said—not -in narrative form, for she was not able to remember any of the details -without having them called to her mind one after the other; but the -commission did that, for they knew just what questions to ask, they -being all written down for the use of witch-commissioners two centuries -before. They asked,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">63</a></span> “Did you do so and so?” and she always said yes, -and looked weary and tired, and took no interest in it. And so when -the other ten heard that this one confessed, they confessed, too, and -answered yes to the questions. Then they were burned at the stake all -together, which was just and right; and everybody went from all the -countryside to see it. I went, too; but when I saw that one of them was -a bonny, sweet girl I used to play with, and looked so pitiful there -chained to the stake, and her mother crying over her and devouring her -with kisses and clinging around her neck, and saying, “Oh, my God! oh, -my God!” it was too dreadful, and I went away.</p> - -<p>It was bitter cold weather when Gottfried’s grandmother was burned. -It was charged that she had cured bad headaches by kneading the -person’s head and neck with her fingers—as she said—but really by the -Devil’s help, as everybody knew. They were going to examine her, but -she stopped them, and confessed straight off that her power was from -the Devil. So they appointed to burn her next morning, early, in our -market-square. The officer who was to prepare the fire was there first, -and prepared it. She was there next—brought by the constables, who -left her and went to fetch another witch. Her family did not come with -her. They might be reviled, maybe stoned, if the people were excited. -I came, and gave her an apple. She was squatting at the fire, warming -herself and waiting; and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">64</a></span> her old lips and hands were blue with the -cold. A stranger came next. He was a traveler, passing through; and he -spoke to her gently, and, seeing nobody but me there to hear, said he -was sorry for her. And he asked if what she confessed was true, and she -said no. He looked surprised and still more sorry then, and asked her:</p> - -<p>“Then why did you confess?”</p> - -<p>“I am old and very poor,” she said, “and I work for my living. There -was no way but to confess. If I hadn’t they might have set me free. -That would ruin me, for no one would forget that I had been suspected -of being a witch, and so I would get no more work, and wherever I went -they would set the dogs on me. In a little while I would starve. The -fire is best; it is soon over. You have been good to me, you two, and I -thank you.”</p> - -<p>She snuggled closer to the fire, and put out her hands to warm them, -the snow-flakes descending soft and still on her old gray head and -making it white and whiter. The crowd was gathering now, and an egg -came flying and struck her in the eye, and broke and ran down her face. -There was a laugh at that.</p> - -<p>I told Satan all about the eleven girls and the old woman, once, but -it did not affect him. He only said it was the human race, and what -the human race did was of no consequence. And he said he had seen it -made; and it was not made of clay; it was made of mud—part of it -was,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">65</a></span> anyway. I knew what he meant by that—the Moral Sense. He saw -the thought in my head, and it tickled him and made him laugh. Then he -called a bullock out of a pasture and petted it and talked with it, and -said:</p> - -<p>“There—he wouldn’t drive children mad with hunger and fright and -loneliness, and then burn them for confessing to things invented for -them which had never happened. And neither would he break the hearts of -innocent, poor old women and make them afraid to trust themselves among -their own race; and he would not insult them in their death-agony. For -he is not besmirched with the Moral Sense, but is as the angels are, -and knows no wrong, and never does it.”</p> - -<p>Lovely as he was, Satan could be cruelly offensive when he chose; and -he always chose when the human race was brought to his attention. He -always turned up his nose at it, and never had a kind word for it.</p> - -<p>Well, as I was saying, we boys doubted if it was a good time for -Ursula to be hiring a member of the Narr family. We were right. When -the people found it out they were naturally indignant. And, moreover, -since Marget and Ursula hadn’t enough to eat themselves, where was -the money coming from to feed another mouth? That is what they wanted -to know; and in order to find out they stopped avoiding Gottfried and -began to seek his society and have sociable conversations with him. He -was pleased—not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">66</a></span> thinking any harm and not seeing the trap—and so he -talked innocently along, and was no discreeter than a cow.</p> - -<p>“Money!” he said; “they’ve got plenty of it. They pay me two groschen a -week, besides my keep. And they live on the fat of the land, I can tell -you; the prince himself can’t beat their table.”</p> - -<p>This astonishing statement was conveyed by the astrologer to Father -Adolf on a Sunday morning when he was returning from mass. He was -deeply moved, and said:</p> - -<p>“This must be looked into.”</p> - -<p>He said there must be witchcraft at the bottom of it, and told the -villagers to resume relations with Marget and Ursula in a private and -unostentatious way, and keep both eyes open. They were told to keep -their own counsel, and not rouse the suspicions of the household. The -villagers were at first a bit reluctant to enter such a dreadful place, -but the priest said they would be under his protection while there, and -no harm could come to them, particularly if they carried a trifle of -holy water along and kept their beads and crosses handy. This satisfied -them and made them willing to go; envy and malice made the baser sort -even eager to go.</p> - -<p>And so poor Marget began to have company again, and was as pleased as -a cat. She was like ’most anybody else—just human, and happy in her -prosperities and not averse from showing them off a little; and she was -humanly grateful to have the warm shoulder turned to her and be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">67</a></span> smiled -upon by her friends and the village again; for of all the hard things -to bear, to be cut by your neighbors and left in contemptuous solitude -is maybe the hardest.</p> - -<p>The bars were down, and we could all go there now, and we did—our -parents and all—day after day. The cat began to strain herself. -She provided the top of everything for those companies, and in -abundance—among them many a dish and many a wine which they had -not tasted before and which they had not even heard of except at -second-hand from the prince’s servants. And the tableware was much -above ordinary, too.</p> - -<p>Marget was troubled at times, and pursued Ursula with questions to -an uncomfortable degree; but Ursula stood her ground and stuck to it -that it was Providence, and said no word about the cat. Marget knew -that nothing was impossible to Providence, but she could not help -having doubts that this effort was from there, though she was afraid -to say so, lest disaster come of it. Witchcraft occurred to her, but -she put the thought aside, for this was before Gottfried joined the -household, and she knew Ursula was pious and a bitter hater of witches. -By the time Gottfried arrived Providence was established, unshakably -intrenched, and getting all the gratitude. The cat made no murmur, but -went on composedly improving in style and prodigality by experience.</p> - -<p>In any community, big or little, there is always a fair<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">68</a></span> proportion -of people who are not malicious or unkind by nature, and who never -do unkind things except when they are overmastered by fear, or when -their self-interest is greatly in danger, or some such matter as that. -Eseldorf had its proportion of such people, and ordinarily their good -and gentle influence was felt, but these were not ordinary times—on -account of the witch-dread—and so we did not seem to have any gentle -and compassionate hearts left, to speak of. Every person was frightened -at the unaccountable state of things at Marget’s house, not doubting -that witchcraft was at the bottom of it, and fright frenzied their -reason. Naturally there were some who pitied Marget and Ursula for the -danger that was gathering about them, but naturally they did not say -so; it would not have been safe. So the others had it all their own -way, and there was none to advise the ignorant girl and the foolish -woman and warn them to modify their doings. We boys wanted to warn -them, but we backed down when it came to the pinch, being afraid. We -found that we were not manly enough nor brave enough to do a generous -action when there was a chance that it could get us into trouble. -Neither of us confessed this poor spirit to the others, but did as -other people would have done—dropped the subject and talked about -something else. And I knew we all felt mean, eating and drinking -Marget’s fine things along with those companies of spies, and petting -her and complimenting her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">69</a></span> with the rest, and seeing with self-reproach -how foolishly happy she was, and never saying a word to put her on her -guard. And, indeed, she was happy, and as proud as a princess, and so -grateful to have friends again. And all the time these people were -watching with all their eyes and reporting all they saw to Father Adolf.</p> - -<p>But he couldn’t make head or tail of the situation. There must be an -enchanter somewhere on the premises, but who was it? Marget was not -seen to do any jugglery, nor was Ursula, not yet Gottfried; and still -the wines and dainties never ran short, and a guest could not call -for a thing and not get it. To produce these effects was usual enough -with witches and enchanters—that part of it was not new; but to do -it without any incantations, or even any rumblings or earthquakes or -lightnings or apparitions—that was new, novel, wholly irregular. -There was nothing in the books like this. Enchanted things were always -unreal. Gold turned to dirt in an unenchanted atmosphere, food withered -away and vanished. But this test failed in the present case. The spies -brought samples: Father Adolf prayed over them, exorcised them, but -it did no good; they remained sound and real, they yielded to natural -decay only, and took the usual time to do it.</p> - -<p>Father Adolf was not merely puzzled, he was also exasperated; for -these evidences very nearly convinced him—privately—that there was -no witchcraft in the matter. It<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">70</a></span> did not wholly convince him, for this -could be a new kind of witchcraft. There was a way to find out as to -this: if this prodigal abundance of provender was not brought in from -the outside, but produced on the premises, there was witchcraft, sure.</p> - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<hr class="divider" /> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">71</a></span> -<h2><a name="vii" id="vii"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> -</div> - -<p class="noi"><span class="dropcap">M</span>ARGET announced a party, and invited forty people; the date for it -was seven days away. This was a fine opportunity. Marget’s house -stood by itself, and it could be easily watched. All the week it was -watched night and day. Marget’s household went out and in as usual, -but they carried nothing in their hands, and neither they nor others -brought anything to the house. This was ascertained. Evidently rations -for forty people were not being fetched. If they were furnished any -sustenance it would have to be made on the premises. It was true that -Marget went out with a basket every evening, but the spies ascertained -that she always brought it back empty.</p> - -<p>The guests arrived at noon and filled the place. Father Adolf followed; -also, after a little, the astrologer, without invitation. The spies had -informed him that neither at the back nor the front had any parcels -been brought in. He entered, and found the eating and drinking going -on finely, and everything progressing in a lively and festive way. He -glanced around and perceived that many of the cooked delicacies and all -of the native and foreign fruits<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">72</a></span> were of a perishable character, and -he also recognized that these were fresh and perfect. No apparitions, -no incantations, no thunder. That settled it. This was witchcraft. And -not only that, but of a new kind—a kind never dreamed of before. It -was a prodigious power, an illustrious power; he resolved to discover -its secret. The announcement of it would resound throughout the -world, penetrate to the remotest lands, paralyze all the nations with -amazement—and carry his name with it, and make him renowned forever. -It was a wonderful piece of luck, a splendid piece of luck; the glory -of it made him dizzy.</p> - -<p>All the house made room for him; Marget politely seated him; Ursula -ordered Gottfried to bring a special table for him. Then she decked it -and furnished it, and asked for his orders.</p> - -<p>“Bring me what you will,” he said.</p> - -<p>The two servants brought supplies from the pantry, together with white -wine and red—a bottle of each. The astrologer, who very likely had -never seen such delicacies before, poured out a beaker of red wine, -drank it off, poured another, then began to eat with a grand appetite.</p> - -<p>I was not expecting Satan, for it was more than a week since I had seen -or heard of him, but now he came in—I knew it by the feel, though -people were in the way and I could not see him. I heard him apologizing -for intruding; and he was going away, but Marget urged him to stay,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">73</a></span> -and he thanked her and stayed. She brought him along, introducing him -to the girls, and to Meidling, and to some of the elders; and there -was quite a rustle of whispers: “It’s the young stranger we hear so -much about and can’t get sight of, he is away so much.” “Dear, dear, -but he is beautiful—what is his name?” “Philip Traum.” “Ah, it fits -him!” (You see, “Traum” is German for “Dream.”) “What does he do?” -“Studying for the ministry, they say.” “His face is his fortune—he’ll -be a cardinal some day.” “Where is his home?” “Away down somewhere in -the tropics, they say—has a rich uncle down there.” And so on. He -made his way at once; everybody was anxious to know him and talk with -him. Everybody noticed how cool and fresh it was, all of a sudden, and -wondered at it, for they could see that the sun was beating down the -same as before, outside, and the sky was clear of clouds, but no one -guessed the reason, of course.</p> - -<p>The astrologer had drunk his second beaker; he poured out a third. -He set the bottle down, and by accident overturned it. He seized it -before much was spilled, and held it up to the light, saying, “What a -pity—it is royal wine.” Then his face lighted with joy or triumph, or -something, and he said, “Quick! Bring a bowl.”</p> - -<p>It was brought—a four-quart one. He took up that two-pint bottle and -began to pour; went on pouring, the red liquor gurgling and gushing -into the white bowl and rising higher and higher up its sides, -everybody staring and holding their breath—and presently the bowl was -full to the brim.</p> - -<p>“Look at the bottle,” he said, holding it up; “it is full yet!” I -glanced at Satan, and in that moment he vanished. Then Father Adolf -rose up, flushed and excited, crossed himself, and began to thunder in -his great voice, “This house is bewitched and accursed!” People began -to cry and shriek and crowd toward the door. “I summon this detected -household to—”</p> - -<p>His words were cut off short. His face became red, then purple, but -he could not utter another sound. Then I saw Satan, a transparent -film, melt into the astrologer’s body; then the astrologer put up his -hand, and apparently in his own voice said, “Wait—remain where you -are.” All stopped where they stood. “Bring a funnel!” Ursula brought -it, trembling and scared, and he stuck it in the bottle and took up -the great bowl and began to pour the wine back, the people gazing and -dazed with astonishment, for they knew the bottle was already full -before he began. He emptied the whole of the bowl into the bottle, then -smiled out over the room, chuckled, and said, indifferently: “It is -nothing—anybody can do it! With my powers I can even do much more.”</p> - -<div class="figcenter width400"> -<a href="images/i-074al.jpg"> -<img src="images/i-074a.jpg" width="400" height="499" alt="" /></a> -<div class="caption">THE ASTROLOGER EMPTIED THE WHOLE OF THE BOWL INTO THE -BOTTLE</div> -</div> - -<p>A frightened cry burst out everywhere, “Oh, my God, he is possessed!” -and there was a tumultuous rush for the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">74</a><br /><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">75</a></span> door which swiftly emptied -the house of all who did not belong in it except us boys and Meidling. -We boys knew the secret, and would have told it if we could, but we -couldn’t. We were very thankful to Satan for furnishing that good help -at the needful time.</p> - -<p>Marget was pale, and crying; Meidling looked kind of petrified; Ursula -the same; but Gottfried was the worst—he couldn’t stand, he was so -weak and scared. For he was of a witch family, you know, and it would -be bad for him to be suspected. Agnes came loafing in, looking pious -and unaware, and wanted to rub up against Ursula and be petted, but -Ursula was afraid of her and shrank away from her, but pretending she -was not meaning any incivility, for she knew very well it wouldn’t -answer to have strained relations with that kind of a cat. But we boys -took Agnes and petted her, for Satan would not have befriended her if -he had not had a good opinion of her, and that was indorsement enough -for us. He seemed to trust anything that hadn’t the Moral Sense.</p> - -<p>Outside, the guests, panic-stricken, scattered in every direction and -fled in a pitiable state of terror; and such a tumult as they made with -their running and sobbing and shrieking and shouting that soon all the -village came flocking from their houses to see what had happened, and -they thronged the street and shouldered and jostled one another in -excitement and fright; and then Father Adolf<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">76</a></span> appeared, and they fell -apart in two walls like the cloven Red Sea, and presently down this -lane the astrologer came striding and mumbling, and where he passed -the lanes surged back in packed masses, and fell silent with awe, and -their eyes stared and their breasts heaved, and several women fainted; -and when he was gone by the crowd swarmed together and followed him -at a distance, talking excitedly and asking questions and finding out -the facts. Finding out the facts and passing them on to others, with -improvements—improvements which soon enlarged the bowl of wine to a -barrel, and made the one bottle hold it all and yet remain empty to the -last.</p> - -<p>When the astrologer reached the market-square he went straight to a -juggler, fantastically dressed, who was keeping three brass balls in -the air, and took them from him and faced around upon the approaching -crowd and said: “This poor clown is ignorant of his art. Come forward -and see an expert perform.”</p> - -<p>So saying, he tossed the balls up one after another and set them -whirling in a slender bright oval in the air, and added another, -then another and another, and soon—no one seeing whence he got -them—adding, adding, adding, the oval lengthening all the time, his -hands moving so swiftly that they were just a web or a blur and not -distinguishable as hands; and such as counted said there were now a -hundred balls in the air. The spinning great<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">77</a></span> oval reached up twenty -feet in the air and was a shining and glinting and wonderful sight. -Then he folded his arms and told the balls to go on spinning without -his help—and they did it. After a couple of minutes he said, “There, -that will do,” and the oval broke and came crashing down, and the balls -scattered abroad and rolled every whither. And wherever one of them -came the people fell back in dread, and no one would touch it. It made -him laugh, and he scoffed at the people and called them cowards and old -women. Then he turned and saw the tight-rope, and said foolish people -were daily wasting their money to see a clumsy and ignorant varlet -degrade that beautiful art; now they should see the work of a master. -With that he made a spring into the air and lit firm on his feet on -the rope. Then he hopped the whole length of it back and forth on one -foot, with his hands clasped over his eyes; and next he began to throw -somersaults, both backward and forward, and threw twenty-seven.</p> - -<p>The people murmured, for the astrologer was old, and always before had -been halting of movement and at times even lame, but he was nimble -enough now and went on with his antics in the liveliest manner. Finally -he sprang lightly down and walked away, and passed up the road and -around the corner and disappeared. Then that great, pale, silent, solid -crowd drew a deep breath and looked into one another’s faces as if -they said: “Was it real? Did you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">78</a></span> see it, or was it only I—and I was -dreaming?” Then they broke into a low murmur of talking, and fell apart -in couples, and moved toward their homes, still talking in that awed -way, with faces close together and laying a hand on an arm and making -other such gestures as people make when they have been deeply impressed -by something.</p> - -<p>We boys followed behind our fathers, and listened, catching all we -could of what they said; and when they sat down in our house and -continued their talk they still had us for company. They were in a sad -mood, for it was certain, they said, that disaster for the village must -follow this awful visitation of witches and devils. Then my father -remembered that Father Adolf had been struck dumb at the moment of his -denunciation.</p> - -<p>“They have not ventured to lay their hands upon an anointed servant of -God before,” he said: “and how they could have dared it this time I -cannot make out, for he wore his crucifix. Isn’t it so?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said the others, “we saw it.”</p> - -<p>“It is serious, friends, it is very serious. Always before, we had a -protection. It has failed.”</p> - -<p>The others shook, as with a sort of chill, and muttered those words -over—“It has failed.” “God has forsaken us.”</p> - -<p>“It is true,” said Seppi Wohlmeyer’s father; “there is nowhere to look -for help.”</p> - -<p>“The people will realize this,” said Nikolaus’s father,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">79</a></span> the judge, -“and despair will take away their courage and their energies. We have -indeed fallen upon evil times.”</p> - -<p>He sighed, and <a name="Wohlmeyer" id="Wohlmeyer"></a><ins title="Original has Wolhmeyer">Wohlmeyer</ins> said, in a troubled voice: “The -report of it all will go about the country, and our village will be -shunned as being under the displeasure of God. The Golden Stag will -know hard times.”</p> - -<p>“True, neighbor,” said my father; “all of us will suffer—all in -repute, many in estate. And, good God!—”</p> - -<p>“What is it?”</p> - -<p>“That can come—to finish us!”</p> - -<p>“Name it—um Gottes Willen!”</p> - -<p>“The Interdict!”</p> - -<p>It smote like a thunderclap, and they were like to swoon with the -terror of it. Then the dread of this calamity roused their energies, -and they stopped brooding and began to consider ways to avert it. They -discussed this, that, and the other way, and talked till the afternoon -was far spent, then confessed that at present they could arrive at no -decision. So they parted sorrowfully, with oppressed hearts which were -filled with bodings.</p> - -<p>While they were saying their parting words I slipped out and set my -course for Marget’s house to see what was happening there. I met many -people, but none of them greeted me. It ought to have been surprising, -but it was not, for they were so distraught with fear and dread that -they were not in their right minds, I think; they were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">80</a></span> white and -haggard, and walked like persons in a dream, their eyes open but seeing -nothing, their lips moving but uttering nothing, and worriedly clasping -and unclasping their hands without knowing it.</p> - -<p>At Marget’s it was like a funeral. She and Wilhelm sat together on the -sofa, but said nothing, and not even holding hands. Both were steeped -in gloom, and Marget’s eyes were red from the crying she had been -doing. She said:</p> - -<p>“I have been begging him to go, and come no more, and so save himself -alive. I cannot bear to be his murderer. This house is bewitched, and -no inmate will escape the fire. But he will not go, and he will be lost -with the rest.”</p> - -<p>Wilhelm said he would not go; if there was danger for her, his place -was by her, and there he would remain. Then she began to cry again, -and it was all so mournful that I wished I had stayed away. There was -a knock, now, and Satan came in, fresh and cheery and beautiful, and -brought that winy atmosphere of his and changed the whole thing. He -never said a word about what had been happening, nor about the awful -fears which were freezing the blood in the hearts of the community, -but began to talk and rattle on about all manner of gay and pleasant -things; and next about music—an artful stroke which cleared away -the remnant of Marget’s depression and brought her spirits and her -interests broad awake. She had not heard any one talk so well and so -knowingly on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">81</a></span> that subject before, and she was so uplifted by it and so -charmed that what she was feeling lit up her face and came out in her -words; and Wilhelm noticed it and did not look as pleased as he ought -to have done. And next Satan branched off into poetry, and recited -some, and did it well, and Marget was charmed again; and again Wilhelm -was not as pleased as he ought to have been, and this time Marget -noticed it and was remorseful.</p> - -<p>I fell asleep to pleasant music that night—the patter of rain upon the -panes and the dull growling of distant thunder. Away in the night Satan -came and roused me and said: “Come with me. Where shall we go?”</p> - -<p>“Anywhere—so it is with you.”</p> - -<p>Then there was a fierce glare of sunlight, and he said, “This is China.”</p> - -<p>That was a grand surprise, and made me sort of drunk with vanity and -gladness to think I had come so far—so much, much farther than anybody -else in our village, including Bartel Sperling, who had such a great -opinion of his travels. We buzzed around over that empire for more than -half an hour, and saw the whole of it. It was wonderful, the spectacles -we saw; and some were beautiful, others too horrible to think. For -instance—However, I may go into that by and by, and also why Satan -chose China for this excursion instead of another place; it would -interrupt my tale to do it now. Finally we stopped flitting and lit.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">82</a></span></p> - -<p>We sat upon a mountain commanding a vast landscape of mountain-range -and gorge and valley and plain and river, with cities and villages -slumbering in the sunlight, and a glimpse of blue sea on the farther -verge. It was a tranquil and dreamy picture, beautiful to the eye -and restful to the spirit. If we could only make a change like that -whenever we wanted to, the world would be easier to live in than it is, -for change of scene shifts the mind’s burdens to the other shoulder and -banishes old, shop-worn wearinesses from mind and body both.</p> - -<p>We talked together, and I had the idea of trying to reform Satan and -persuade him to lead a better life. I told him about all those things -he had been doing, and begged him to be more considerate and stop -making people unhappy. I said I knew he did not mean any harm, but that -he ought to stop and consider the possible consequences of a thing -before launching it in that impulsive and random way of his; then he -would not make so much trouble. He was not hurt by this plain speech; -he only looked amused and surprised, and said:</p> - -<p>“What? I do random things? Indeed, I never do. I stop and consider -possible consequences? Where is the need? I know what the consequences -are going to be—always.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, Satan, then how could you do these things?”</p> - -<p>“Well, I will tell you, and you must understand if you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">83</a></span> can. You -belong to a singular race. Every man is a suffering-machine and -a happiness-machine combined. The two functions work together -harmoniously, with a fine and delicate precision, on the give-and-take -principle. For every happiness turned out in the one department the -other stands ready to modify it with a sorrow or a pain—maybe a -dozen. In most cases the man’s life is about equally divided between -happiness and unhappiness. When this is not the case the unhappiness -predominates—always; never the other. Sometimes a man’s make and -disposition are such that his misery-machine is able to do nearly -all the business. Such a man goes through life almost ignorant of -what happiness is. Everything he touches, everything he does, brings -a misfortune upon him. You have seen such people? To that kind of -a person life is not an advantage, is it? It is only a disaster. -Sometimes for an hour’s happiness a man’s machinery makes him pay years -of misery. Don’t you know that? It happens every now and then. I will -give you a case or two presently. Now the people of your village are -nothing to me—you know that, don’t you?”</p> - -<p>I did not like to speak out too flatly, so I said I had suspected it.</p> - -<p>“Well, it is true that they are nothing to me. It is not possible -that they should be. The difference between them and me is abysmal, -immeasurable. They have no intellect.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">84</a></span></p> - -<p>“No intellect?”</p> - -<p>“Nothing that resembles it. At a future time I will examine what man -calls his mind and give you the details of that chaos, then you will -see and understand. Men have nothing in common with me—there is no -point of contact; they have foolish little feelings and foolish little -vanities and impertinences and ambitions; their foolish little life is -but a laugh, a sigh, and extinction; and they have no sense. Only the -Moral Sense. I will show you what I mean. Here is a red spider, not so -big as a pin’s head. Can you imagine an elephant being interested in -him—caring whether he is happy or isn’t, or whether he is wealthy or -poor, or whether his sweetheart returns his love or not, or whether -his mother is sick or well, or whether he is looked up to in society -or not, or whether his enemies will smite him or his friends desert -him, or whether his hopes will suffer blight or his political ambitions -fail, or whether he shall die in the bosom of his family or neglected -and despised in a foreign land? These things can never be important to -the elephant; they are nothing to him; he cannot shrink his sympathies -to the microscopic size of them. Man is to me as the red spider is to -the elephant. The elephant has nothing against the spider—he cannot -get down to that remote level; I have nothing against man. The elephant -is indifferent; I am indifferent. The elephant would not take the -trouble to do the spider an ill turn;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">85</a></span> if he took the notion he might -do him a good turn, if it came in his way and cost nothing. I have done -men good service, but no ill turns.</p> - -<p>“The elephant lives a century, the red spider a day; in power, -intellect, and dignity the one creature is separated from the other -by a distance which is simply astronomical. Yet in these, as in all -qualities, man is immeasurably further below me than is the wee spider -below the elephant.</p> - -<p>“Man’s mind clumsily and tediously and laboriously patches little -trivialities together and gets a result—such as it is. My mind -creates! Do you get the force of that? Creates anything it desires—and -in a moment. Creates without material. Creates fluids, solids, -colors—anything, everything—out of the airy nothing which is called -Thought. A man imagines a silk thread, imagines a machine to make it, -imagines a picture, then by weeks of labor embroiders it on canvas -with the thread. I think the whole thing, and in a moment it is before -you—created.</p> - -<p>“I think a poem, music, the record of a game of chess—anything—and -it is there. This is the immortal mind—nothing is beyond its reach. -Nothing can obstruct my vision; the rocks are transparent to me, and -darkness is daylight. I do not need to open a book; I take the whole -of its contents into my mind at a single glance, through the cover; -and in a million years I could not forget a single word of it, or its -place in the volume. Nothing goes on in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">86</a></span> the skull of man, bird, fish, -insect, or other creature which can be hidden from me. I pierce the -learned man’s brain with a single glance, and the treasures which cost -him threescore years to accumulate are mine; he can forget, and he does -forget, but I retain.</p> - -<p>“Now, then, I perceive by your thoughts that you are understanding -me fairly well. Let us proceed. Circumstances might so fall out that -the elephant could like the spider—supposing he can see it—but he -could not love it. His love is for his own kind—for his equals. An -angel’s love is sublime, adorable, divine, beyond the imagination of -man—infinitely beyond it! But it is limited to his own august order. -If it fell upon one of your race for only an instant, it would consume -its object to ashes. No, we cannot love men, but we can be harmlessly -indifferent to them; we can also like them, sometimes. I like you and -the boys, I like Father Peter, and for your sakes I am doing all these -things for the villagers.”</p> - -<p>He saw that I was thinking a sarcasm, and he explained his position.</p> - -<p>“I have wrought well for the villagers, though it does not look like -it on the surface. Your race never know good fortune from ill. They -are always mistaking the one for the other. It is because they cannot -see into the future. What I am doing for the villagers will bear good -fruit some day; in some cases to themselves; in others, to unborn<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">87</a></span> -generations of men. No one will ever know that I was the cause, but -it will be none the less true, for all that. Among you boys you have -a game: you stand a row of bricks on end a few inches apart; you push -a brick, it knocks its neighbor over, the neighbor knocks over the -next brick—and so on till all the row is prostrate. That is human -life. A child’s first act knocks over the initial brick, and the rest -will follow inexorably. If you could see into the future, as I can, -you would see everything that was going to happen to that creature; -for nothing can change the order of its life after the first event -has determined it. That is, nothing will change it, because each act -unfailingly begets an act, that act begets another, and so on to the -end, and the seer can look forward down the line and see just when each -act is to have birth, from cradle to grave.”</p> - -<p>“Does God order the career?”</p> - -<p>“Foreordain it? No. The man’s circumstances and environment order it. -His first act determines the second and all that follow after. But -suppose, for argument’s sake, that the man should skip one of these -acts; an apparently trifling one, for instance; suppose that it had -been appointed that on a certain day, at a certain hour and minute and -second and fraction of a second he should go to the well, and he didn’t -go. That man’s career would change utterly, from that moment; thence -to the grave it would be wholly different from the career which his -first act as a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">88</a></span> child had arranged for him. Indeed, it might be that -if he had gone to the well he would have ended his career on a throne, -and that omitting to do it would set him upon a career that would lead -to beggary and a pauper’s grave. For instance: if at any time—say in -boyhood—Columbus had skipped the triflingest little link in the chain -of acts projected and made inevitable by his first childish act, it -would have changed his whole subsequent life, and he would have become -a priest and died obscure in an Italian village, and America would -not have been discovered for two centuries afterward. I know this. To -skip any one of the billion acts in Columbus’s chain would have wholly -changed his life. I have examined his billion of possible careers, and -in only one of them occurs the discovery of America. You people do not -suspect that all of your acts are of one size and importance, but it is -true; to snatch at an appointed fly is as big with fate for you as in -any other appointed act—”</p> - -<p>“As the conquering of a continent, for instance?”</p> - -<p>“Yes. Now, then, no man ever does drop a link—the thing has never -happened! Even when he is trying to make up his mind as to whether he -will do a thing or not, that itself is a link, an act, and has its -proper place in his chain; and when he finally decides an act, that -also was the thing which he was absolutely certain to do. You see, now, -that a man will never drop a link in his chain. He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">89</a></span> cannot. If he made -up his mind to try, that project would itself be an unavoidable link—a -thought bound to occur to him at that precise moment, and made certain -by the first act of his babyhood.”</p> - -<p>It seemed so dismal!</p> - -<p>“He is a prisoner for life,” I said sorrowfully, “and cannot get free.”</p> - -<p>“No, of himself he cannot get away from the consequences of his first -childish act. But I can free him.”</p> - -<p>I looked up wistfully.</p> - -<p>“I have changed the careers of a number of your villagers.”</p> - -<p>I tried to thank him, but found it difficult, and let it drop.</p> - -<p>“I shall make some other changes. You know that little Lisa Brandt?”</p> - -<p>“Oh yes, everybody does. My mother says she is so sweet and so lovely -that she is not like any other child. She says she will be the pride of -the village when she grows up; and its idol, too, just as she is now.”</p> - -<p>“I shall change her future.”</p> - -<p>“Make it better?” I asked.</p> - -<p>“Yes. And I will change the future of Nikolaus.”</p> - -<p>I was glad, this time, and said, “I don’t need to ask about his case; -you will be sure to do generously by him.”</p> - -<p>“It is my intention.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">90</a></span></p> - -<p>Straight off I was building that great future of Nicky’s in my -imagination, and had already made a renowned general of him and -hofmeister at the court, when I noticed that Satan was waiting for me -to get ready to listen again. I was ashamed of having exposed my cheap -imaginings to him, and was expecting some sarcasms, but it did not -happen. He proceeded with his subject:</p> - -<p>“Nicky’s appointed life is sixty-two years.”</p> - -<p>“That’s grand!” I said.</p> - -<p>“Lisa’s, thirty-six. But, as I told you, I shall change their lives -and those ages. Two minutes and a quarter from now Nikolaus will wake -out of his sleep and find the rain blowing in. It was appointed that -he should turn over and go to sleep again. But I have appointed that -he shall get up and close the window first. That trifle will change -his career entirely. He will rise in the morning two minutes later -than the chain of his life had appointed him to rise. By consequence, -thenceforth nothing will ever happen to him in accordance with the -details of the old chain.” He took out his watch and sat looking at it -a few moments, then said: “Nikolaus has risen to close the window. His -life is changed, his new career has begun. There will be consequences.”</p> - -<p>It made me feel creepy; it was uncanny.</p> - -<p>“But for this change certain things would happen twelve days from now. -For instance, Nikolaus would save<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">91</a></span> Lisa from drowning. He would arrive -on the scene at exactly the right moment—four minutes past ten, the -long-ago appointed instant of time—and the water would be shoal, the -achievement easy and certain. But he will arrive some seconds too late, -now; Lisa will have struggled into deeper water. He will do his best, -but both will drown.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, Satan! oh, dear Satan!” I cried, with the tears rising in my eyes, -“save them! Don’t let it happen. I can’t bear to lose Nikolaus, he is -my loving playmate and friend; and think of Lisa’s poor mother!”</p> - -<p>I clung to him and begged and pleaded, but he was not moved. He made me -sit down again, and told me I must hear him out.</p> - -<p>“I have changed Nikolaus’s life, and this has changed Lisa’s. If I had -not done this, Nikolaus would save Lisa, then he would catch cold from -his drenching; one of your race’s fantastic and desolating scarlet -fevers would follow, with pathetic after-effects; for forty-six years -he would lie in his bed a paralytic log, deaf, dumb, blind, and praying -night and day for the blessed relief of death. Shall I change his life -back?”</p> - -<p>“Oh no! Oh, not for the world! In charity and pity leave it as it is.”</p> - -<p>“It is best so. I could not have changed any other link in his life -and done him so good a service. He had a billion possible careers, -but not one of them was worth<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">92</a></span> living; they were charged full with -miseries and disasters. But for my intervention he would do his brave -deed twelve days from now—a deed begun and ended in six minutes—and -get for all reward those forty-six years of sorrow and suffering I told -you of. It is one of the cases I was thinking of awhile ago when I said -that sometimes an act which brings the actor an hour’s happiness and -self-satisfaction is paid for—or punished—by years of suffering.”</p> - -<p>I wondered what poor little Lisa’s early death would save her from. He -answered the thought:</p> - -<p>“From ten years of pain and slow recovery from an accident, and then -from nineteen years’ pollution, shame, depravity, crime, ending with -death at the hands of the executioner. Twelve days hence she will die; -her mother would save her life if she could. Am I not kinder than her -mother?”</p> - -<p>“Yes—oh, indeed yes; and wiser.”</p> - -<p>“Father Peter’s case is coming on presently. He will be acquitted, -through unassailable proofs of his innocence.”</p> - -<p>“Why, Satan, how can that be? Do you really think it?”</p> - -<p>“Indeed, I know it. His good name will be restored, and the rest of his -life will be happy.”</p> - -<p>“I can believe it. To restore his good name will have that effect.”</p> - -<p>“His happiness will not proceed from that cause. I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">93</a></span> shall change his -life that day, for his good. He will never know his good name has been -restored.”</p> - -<p>In my mind—and modestly—I asked for particulars, but Satan paid no -attention to my thought. Next, my mind wandered to the astrologer, and -I wondered where he might be.</p> - -<p>“In the moon,” said Satan, with a fleeting sound which I believed was -a chuckle. “I’ve got him on the cold side of it, too. He doesn’t know -where he is, and is not having a pleasant time; still, it is good -enough for him, a good place for his star studies. I shall need him -presently; then I shall bring him back and possess him again. He has -a long and cruel and odious life before him, but I will change that, -for I have no feeling against him and am quite willing to do him a -kindness. I think I shall get him burned.”</p> - -<p>He had such strange notions of kindness! But angels are made so, and do -not know any better. Their ways are not like our ways; and, besides, -human beings are nothing to them; they think they are only freaks. It -seems to me odd that he should put the astrologer so far away; he could -have dumped him in Germany just as well, where he would be handy.</p> - -<p>“Far away?” said Satan. “To me no place is far away; distance does not -exist for me. The sun is less than a hundred million miles from here, -and the light that is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">94</a></span> falling upon us has taken eight minutes to come; -but I can make that flight, or any other, in a fraction of time so -minute that it cannot be measured by a watch. I have but to think the -journey, and it is accomplished.”</p> - -<p>I held out my hand and said, “The light lies upon it; think it into a -glass of wine, Satan.”</p> - -<p>He did it. I drank the wine.</p> - -<p>“Break the glass,” he said.</p> - -<p>I broke it.</p> - -<p>“There—you see it is real. The villagers thought the brass balls were -magic stuff and as perishable as smoke. They were afraid to touch them. -You are a curious lot—your race. But come along; I have business. I -will put you to bed.” Said and done. Then he was gone; but his voice -came back to me through the rain and darkness saying, “Yes, tell Seppi, -but no other.”</p> - -<p>It was the answer to my thought.</p> - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<hr class="divider" /> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">95</a></span> -<h2><a name="viii" id="viii"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> -</div> - -<p class="noi"><span class="dropcap">S</span>LEEP would not come. It was not because I was proud of my travels and -excited about having been around the big world to China, and feeling -contemptuous of Bartel Sperling, “the traveler,” as he called himself, -and looked down upon us others because he had been to Vienna once and -was the only Eseldorf boy who had made such a journey and seen the -world’s wonders. At another time that would have kept me awake, but -it did not affect me now. No, my mind was filled with Nikolaus, my -thoughts ran upon him only, and the good days we had seen together at -romps and frolics in the woods and the fields and the river in the long -summer days, and skating and sliding in the winter when our parents -thought we were in school. And now he was going out of this young life, -and the summers and winters would come and go, and we others would rove -and play as before, but his place would be vacant; we should see him -no more. To-morrow he would not suspect, but would be as he had always -been, and it would shock me to hear him laugh, and see him do lightsome -and frivolous things, for to me he would be a corpse, with waxen hands<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">96</a></span> -and dull eyes, and I should see the shroud around his face; and next -day he would not suspect, nor the next, and all the time his handful of -days would be wasting swiftly away and that awful thing coming nearer -and nearer, his fate closing steadily around him and no one knowing it -but Seppi and me. Twelve days—only twelve days. It was awful to think -of. I noticed that in my thoughts I was not calling him by his familiar -names, Nick and Nicky, but was speaking of him by his full name, and -reverently, as one speaks of the dead. Also, as incident after incident -of our comradeship came thronging into my mind out of the past, I -noticed that they were mainly cases where I had wronged him or hurt -him, and they rebuked me and reproached me, and my heart was wrung with -remorse, just as it is when we remember our unkindnesses to friends who -have passed beyond the veil, and we wish we could have them back again, -if only for a moment, so that we could go on our knees to them and say, -“Have pity, and forgive.”</p> - -<p>Once when we were nine years old he went a long errand of nearly two -miles for the fruiterer, who gave him a splendid big apple for reward, -and he was flying home with it, almost beside himself with astonishment -and delight, and I met him, and he let me look at the apple, not -thinking of treachery, and I ran off with it, eating it as I ran, he -following me and begging; and when he overtook me I offered him the -core, which was all that was left; and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">97</a></span> I laughed. Then he turned away, -crying, and said he had meant to give it to his little sister. That -smote me, for she was slowly getting well of a sickness, and it would -have been a proud moment for him, to see her joy and surprise and have -her caresses. But I was ashamed to say I was ashamed, and only said -something rude and mean, to pretend I did not care, and he made no -reply in words, but there was a wounded look in his face as he turned -away toward his home which rose before me many times in after years, in -the night, and reproached me and made me ashamed again. It had grown -dim in my mind, by and by, then it disappeared; but it was back now, -and not dim.</p> - -<p>Once at school, when we were eleven, I upset my ink and spoiled four -copy-books, and was in danger of severe punishment; but I put it upon -him, and he got the whipping.</p> - -<p>And only last year I had cheated him in a trade, giving him a large -fish-hook which was partly broken through for three small sound ones. -The first fish he caught broke the hook, but he did not know I was -blamable, and he refused to take back one of the small hooks which my -conscience forced me to offer him, but said, “A trade is a trade; the -hook was bad, but that was not your fault.”</p> - -<p>No, I could not sleep. These little, shabby wrongs upbraided me and -tortured me, and with a pain much sharper than one feels when the -wrongs have been done to the living. Nikolaus was living, but no -matter; he was to me<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">98</a></span> as one already dead. The wind was still moaning -about the eaves, the rain still pattering upon the panes.</p> - -<p>In the morning I sought out Seppi and told him. It was down by the -river. His lips moved, but he did not say anything, he only looked -dazed and stunned, and his face turned very white. He stood like that a -few moments, the tears welling into his eyes, then he turned away and -I locked my arm in his and we walked along thinking, but not speaking. -We crossed the bridge and wandered through the meadows and up among the -hills and the woods, and at last the talk came and flowed freely, and -it was all about Nikolaus and was a recalling of the life we had lived -with him. And every now and then Seppi said, as if to himself:</p> - -<p>“Twelve days!—less than twelve.”</p> - -<p>We said we must be with him all the time; we must have all of him we -could; the days were precious now. Yet we did not go to seek him. It -would be like meeting the dead, and we were afraid. We did not say it, -but that was what we were feeling. And so it gave us a shock when we -turned a curve and came upon Nikolaus face to face. He shouted, gaily:</p> - -<p>“Hi-hi! What is the matter? Have you seen a ghost?”</p> - -<p>We couldn’t speak, but there was no occasion; he was willing to talk -for us all, for he had just seen Satan and was in high spirits about -it. Satan had told him about our trip<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">99</a></span> to China, and he had begged -Satan to take him a journey, and Satan had promised. It was to be a -far journey, and wonderful and beautiful; and Nikolaus had begged him -to take us, too, but he said no, he would take us some day, maybe, but -not now. Satan would come for him on the 13th, and Nikolaus was already -counting the hours, he was so impatient.</p> - -<p>That was the fatal day. We were already counting the hours, too.</p> - -<p>We wandered many a mile, always following paths which had been our -favorites from the days when we were little, and always we talked -about the old times. All the blitheness was with Nikolaus; we others -could not shake off our depression. Our tone toward Nikolaus was so -strangely gentle and tender and yearning that he noticed it, and was -pleased; and we were constantly doing him deferential little offices of -courtesy, and saying, “Wait, let me do that for you,” and that pleased -him, too. I gave him seven fish-hooks—all I had—and made him take -them; and Seppi gave him his new knife and a humming-top painted red -and yellow—atonements for swindles practised upon him formerly, as I -learned later, and probably no longer remembered by Nikolaus now. These -things touched him, and he said he could not have believed that we -loved him so; and his pride in it and gratefulness for it cut us to the -heart, we were so undeserving of them. When we<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">100</a></span> parted at last, he was -radiant, and said he had never had such a happy day.</p> - -<p>As we walked along homeward, Seppi said, “We always prized him, but -never so much as now, when we are going to lose him.”</p> - -<p>Next day and every day we spent all of our spare time with Nikolaus; -and also added to it time which we (and he) stole from work and other -duties, and this cost the three of us some sharp scoldings, and some -threats of punishment. Every morning two of us woke with a start and a -shudder, saying, as the days flew along, “Only ten days left”; “only -nine days left”; “only eight”; “only seven.” Always it was narrowing. -Always Nikolaus was gay and happy, and always puzzled because we were -not. He wore his invention to the bone trying to invent ways to cheer -us up, but it was only a hollow success; he could see that our jollity -had no heart in it, and that the laughs we broke into came up against -some obstruction or other and suffered damage and decayed into a sigh. -He tried to find out what the matter was, so that he could help us out -of our trouble or make it lighter by sharing it with us; so we had to -tell many lies to deceive him and appease him.</p> - -<p>But the most distressing thing of all was that he was always making -plans, and often they went beyond the 13th! Whenever that happened it -made us groan in spirit. All his mind was fixed upon finding some way -to conquer<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">101</a></span> our depression and cheer us up; and at last, when he had -but three days to live, he fell upon the right idea and was jubilant -over it—a boys-and-girls’ frolic and dance in the woods, up there -where we first met Satan, and this was to occur on the 14th. It was -ghastly, for that was his funeral day. We couldn’t venture to protest; -it would only have brought a “Why?” which we could not answer. He -wanted us to help him invite his guests, and we did it—one can refuse -nothing to a dying friend. But it was dreadful, for really we were -inviting them to his funeral.</p> - -<p>It was an awful eleven days; and yet, with a lifetime stretching back -between to-day and then, they are still a grateful memory to me, and -beautiful. In effect they were days of companionship with one’s sacred -dead, and I have known no comradeship that was so close or so precious. -We clung to the hours and the minutes, counting them as they wasted -away, and parting with them with that pain and bereavement which a -miser feels who sees his hoard filched from him coin by coin by robbers -and is helpless to prevent it.</p> - -<p>When the evening of the last day came we stayed out too long; Seppi and -I were in fault for that; we could not bear to part with Nikolaus; so -it was very late when we left him at his door. We lingered near awhile, -listening; and that happened which we were fearing. His father gave him -the promised punishment, and we heard his shrieks.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">102</a></span> But we listened -only a moment, then hurried away, remorseful for this thing which we -had caused. And sorry for the father, too; our thought being, “If he -only knew—if he only knew!”</p> - -<p>In the morning Nikolaus did not meet us at the appointed place, so we -went to his home to see what the matter was. His mother said:</p> - -<p>“His father is out of all patience with these goings-on, and will not -have any more of it. Half the time when Nick is needed he is not to be -found; then it turns out that he has been gadding around with you two. -His father gave him a flogging last night. It always grieved me before, -and many’s the time I have begged him off and saved him, but this time -he appealed to me in vain, for I was out of patience myself.”</p> - -<p>“I wish you had saved him just this one time,” I said, my voice -trembling a little; “it would ease a pain in your heart to remember it -some day.”</p> - -<p>She was ironing at the time, and her back was partly toward me. She -turned about with a startled or wondering look in her face and said, -“What do you mean by that?”</p> - -<p>I was not prepared, and didn’t know anything to say; so it was awkward, -for she kept looking at me; but Seppi was alert and spoke up:</p> - -<p>“Why, of course it would be pleasant to remember,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">103</a></span> for the very reason -we were out so late was that Nikolaus got to telling how good you are -to him, and how he never got whipped when you were by to save him; and -he was so full of it, and we were so full of the interest of it, that -none of us noticed how late it was getting.”</p> - -<p>“Did he say that? Did he?” and she put her apron to her eyes.</p> - -<p>“You can ask Theodor—he will tell you the same.”</p> - -<p>“It is a dear, good lad, my Nick,” she said. “I am sorry I let him get -whipped; I will never do it again. To think—all the time I was sitting -here last night, fretting and angry at him, he was loving me and -praising me! Dear, dear, if we could only know! Then we shouldn’t ever -go wrong; but we are only poor, dumb beasts groping around and making -mistakes. I sha’n’t ever think of last night without a pang.”</p> - -<p>She was like all the rest; it seemed as if nobody could open a mouth, -in these wretched days, without saying something that made us shiver. -They were “groping around,” and did not know what true, sorrowfully -true things they were saying by accident.</p> - -<p>Seppi asked if Nikolaus might go out with us.</p> - -<p>“I am sorry,” she answered, “but he can’t. To punish him further, his -father doesn’t allow him to go out of the house to-day.”</p> - -<p>We had a great hope! I saw it in Seppi’s eyes. We<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">104</a></span> thought, “If he -cannot leave the house, he cannot be drowned.” Seppi asked, to make -sure:</p> - -<p>“Must he stay in all day, or only the morning?”</p> - -<p>“All day. It’s such a pity, too; it’s a beautiful day, and he is so -unused to being shut up. But he is busy planning his party, and maybe -that is company for him. I do hope he isn’t too lonesome.”</p> - -<p>Seppi saw that in her eye which emboldened him to ask if we might go up -and help him pass his time.</p> - -<p>“And welcome!” she said, right heartily. “Now I call that real -friendship, when you might be abroad in the fields and the woods, -having a happy time. You are good boys, I’ll allow that, though you -don’t always find satisfactory ways of improving it. Take these -cakes—for yourselves—and give him this one, from his mother.”</p> - -<p>The first thing we noticed when we entered Nikolaus’s room was the -time—a quarter to 10. Could that be correct? Only such a few minutes -to live! I felt a contraction at my heart. Nikolaus jumped up and gave -us a glad welcome. He was in good spirits over his plannings for his -party and had not been lonesome.</p> - -<p>“Sit down,” he said, “and look at what I’ve been doing. And I’ve -finished a kite that you will say is a beauty. It’s drying, in the -kitchen; I’ll fetch it.”</p> - -<p>He had been spending his penny savings in fanciful trifles of various -kinds, to go as prizes in the games, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">105</a></span> they were marshaled with fine -and showy effect upon the table. He said:</p> - -<p>“Examine them at your leisure while I get mother to touch up the kite -with her iron if it isn’t dry enough yet.”</p> - -<p>Then he tripped out and went clattering down-stairs, whistling.</p> - -<p>We did not look at the things; we couldn’t take any interest in -anything but the clock. We sat staring at it in silence, listening -to the ticking, and every time the minute-hand jumped we nodded -recognition—one minute fewer to cover in the race for life or for -death. Finally Seppi drew a deep breath and said:</p> - -<p>“Two minutes to ten. Seven minutes more and he will pass the -death-point. Theodor, he is going to be saved! He’s going to—”</p> - -<p>“Hush! I’m on needles. Watch the clock and keep still.”</p> - -<p>Five minutes more. We were panting with the strain and the excitement. -Another three minutes, and there was a footstep on the stair.</p> - -<p>“Saved!” And we jumped up and faced the door.</p> - -<p>The old mother entered, bringing the kite. “Isn’t it a beauty?” she -said. “And, dear me, how he has slaved over it—ever since daylight, -I think, and only finished it awhile before you came.” She stood it -against the wall, and stepped back to take a view of it. “He drew the -pictures<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">106</a></span> his own self, and I think they are very good. The church -isn’t so very good, I’ll have to admit, but look at the bridge—any one -can recognize the bridge in a minute. He asked me to bring it up.... -Dear me! it’s seven minutes past ten, and I—”</p> - -<p>“But where is he?”</p> - -<p>“He? Oh, he’ll be here soon; he’s gone out a minute.”</p> - -<p>“Gone out?”</p> - -<p>“Yes. Just as he came down-stairs little Lisa’s mother came in and said -the child had wandered off somewhere, and as she was a little uneasy I -told Nikolaus to never mind about his father’s orders—go and look her -up.... Why, how white you two do look! I do believe you are sick. Sit -down; I’ll fetch something. That cake has disagreed with you. It is a -little heavy, but I thought—”</p> - -<p>She disappeared without finishing her sentence, and we hurried at once -to the back window and looked toward the river. There was a great crowd -at the other end of the bridge, and people were flying toward that -point from every direction.</p> - -<p>“Oh, it is all over—poor Nikolaus! Why, oh, why did she let him get -out of the house!”</p> - -<p>“Come away,” said Seppi, half sobbing, “come quick—we can’t bear to -meet her; in five minutes she will know.”</p> - -<p>But we were not to escape. She came upon us at the foot of the stairs, -with her cordials in her hands, and made<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">107</a></span> us come in and sit down and -take the medicine. Then she watched the effect, and it did not satisfy -her; so she made us wait longer, and kept upbraiding herself for giving -us the unwholesome cake.</p> - -<p>Presently the thing happened which we were dreading. There was a sound -of tramping and scraping outside, and a crowd came solemnly in, with -heads uncovered, and laid the two drowned bodies on the bed.</p> - -<p>“Oh, my God!” that poor mother cried out, and fell on her knees, and -put her arms about her dead boy and began to cover the wet face with -kisses. “Oh, it was I that sent him, and I have been his death. If I -had obeyed, and kept him in the house, this would not have happened. -And I am rightly punished; I was cruel to him last night, and him -begging me, his own mother, to be his friend.”</p> - -<p>And so she went on and on, and all the women cried, and pitied her, and -tried to comfort her, but she could not forgive herself and could not -be comforted, and kept on saying if she had not sent him out he would -be alive and well now, and she was the cause of his death.</p> - -<p>It shows how foolish people are when they blame themselves for anything -they have done. Satan knows, and he said nothing happens that your -first act hasn’t arranged to happen and made inevitable; and so, of -your own motion you can’t ever alter the scheme or do a thing that -will break a link. Next we heard screams, and Frau Brandt<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">108</a></span> came wildly -plowing and plunging through the crowd with her dress in disorder and -hair flying loose, and flung herself upon her dead child with moans and -kisses and pleadings and endearments; and by and by she rose up almost -exhausted with her outpourings of passionate emotion, and clenched her -fist and lifted it toward the sky, and her tear-drenched face grew hard -and resentful, and she said:</p> - -<p>“For nearly two weeks I have had dreams and presentiments and warnings -that death was going to strike what was most precious to me, and -day and night and night and day I have groveled in the dirt before -Him praying Him to have pity on my innocent child and save it from -harm—and here is His answer!”</p> - -<p>Why, He had saved it from harm—but she did not know.</p> - -<p>She wiped the tears from her eyes and cheeks, and stood awhile gazing -down at the child and caressing its face and its hair with her hand; -then she spoke again in that bitter tone: “But in His hard heart is no -compassion. I will never pray again.”</p> - -<div class="figcenter width400"> -<a href="images/i-108al.jpg"> -<img src="images/i-108a.jpg" width="400" height="503" alt="" /></a> -<div class="caption">THERE WAS A SOUND OF TRAMPING OUTSIDE AND THE CROWD CAME -SOLEMNLY IN</div> -</div> - -<p>She gathered her dead child to her bosom and strode away, the crowd -falling back to let her pass, and smitten dumb by the awful words they -had heard. Ah, that poor woman! It is as Satan said, we do not know -good fortune from bad, and are always mistaking the one for the other. -Many a time since then I have heard people pray to God to spare the -life of sick persons, but I have never done it.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">109</a></span> -Both funerals took place at the same time in our little church next -day. Everybody was there, including the party guests. Satan was there, -too; which was proper, for it was on account of his efforts that -the funerals had happened. Nikolaus had departed this life without -absolution, and a collection was taken up for masses, to get him out -of purgatory. Only two-thirds of the required money was gathered, and -the parents were going to try to borrow the rest, but Satan furnished -it. He told us privately that there was no purgatory, but he had -contributed in order that Nikolaus’s parents and their friends might be -saved from worry and distress. We thought it very good of him, but he -said money did not cost him anything.</p> - -<p>At the graveyard the body of little Lisa was seized for debt by a -carpenter to whom the mother owed fifty groschen for work done the year -before. She had never been able to pay this, and was not able now. The -carpenter took the corpse home and kept it four days in his cellar, -the mother weeping and imploring about his house all the time; then he -buried it in his brother’s cattle-yard, without religious ceremonies. -It drove the mother wild with grief and shame, and she forsook her work -and went daily about the town, cursing the carpenter and blaspheming -the laws of the emperor and the church, and it was pitiful to see. -Seppi asked Satan to interfere, but he said the carpenter and the rest -were members of the human race and were acting quite<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">110</a></span> neatly for that -species of animal. He would interfere if he found a horse acting in -such a way, and we must inform him when we came across that kind of -horse doing that kind of a human thing, so that he could stop it. We -believed this was sarcasm, for of course there wasn’t any such horse.</p> - -<p>But after a few days we found that we could not abide that poor woman’s -distress, so we begged Satan to examine her several possible careers, -and see if he could not change her, to her profit, to a new one. He -said the longest of her careers as they now stood gave her forty-two -years to live, and her shortest one twenty-nine, and that both were -charged with grief and hunger and cold and pain. The only improvement -he could make would be to enable her to skip a certain three minutes -from now; and he asked us if he should do it. This was such a short -time to decide in that we went to pieces with nervous excitement, and -before we could pull ourselves together and ask for particulars he said -the time would be up in a few more seconds; so then we gasped out, “Do -it!”</p> - -<p>“It is done,” he said; “she was going around a corner; I have turned -her back; it has changed her career.”</p> - -<p>“Then what will happen, Satan?”</p> - -<p>“It is happening now. She is having words with Fischer, the weaver. In -his anger Fischer will straightway do what he would not have done but -for this accident. He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">111</a></span> was present when she stood over her child’s body -and uttered those blasphemies.”</p> - -<p>“What will he do?”</p> - -<p>“He is doing it now—betraying her. In three days she will go to the -stake.”</p> - -<p>We could not speak; we were frozen with horror, for if we had not -meddled with her career she would have been spared this awful fate. -Satan noticed these thoughts, and said:</p> - -<p>“What you are thinking is strictly human-like—that is to say, foolish. -The woman is advantaged. Die when she might, she would go to heaven. By -this prompt death she gets twenty-nine years more of heaven than she is -entitled to, and escapes twenty-nine years of misery here.”</p> - -<p>A moment before we were bitterly making up our minds that we would -ask no more favors of Satan for friends of ours, for he did not seem -to know any way to do a person a kindness but by killing him; but the -whole aspect of the case was changed now, and we were glad of what we -had done and full of happiness in the thought of it.</p> - -<p>After a little I began to feel troubled about Fischer, and asked, -timidly, “Does this episode change Fischer’s life-scheme, Satan?”</p> - -<p>“Change it? Why, certainly. And radically. If he had not met Frau -Brandt awhile ago he would die next year, thirty-four years of age. -Now he will live to be ninety,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">112</a></span> and have a pretty prosperous and -comfortable life of it, as human lives go.”</p> - -<p>We felt a great joy and pride in what we had done for Fischer, and were -expecting Satan to sympathize with this feeling; but he showed no sign, -and this made us uneasy. We waited for him to speak, but he didn’t; so, -to assuage our solicitude we had to ask him if there was any defect in -Fischer’s good luck. Satan considered the question a moment, then said, -with some hesitation:</p> - -<p>“Well, the fact is, it is a delicate point. Under his several former -possible life-careers he was going to heaven.”</p> - -<p>We were aghast. “Oh, Satan! and under this one—”</p> - -<p>“There, don’t be so distressed. You were sincerely trying to do him a -kindness; let that comfort you.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, dear, dear, that cannot comfort us. You ought to have told us what -we were doing, then we wouldn’t have acted so.”</p> - -<p>But it made no impression on him. He had never felt a pain or a sorrow, -and did not know what they were, in any really informing way. He had no -knowledge of them except theoretically—that is to say, intellectually. -And of course that is no good. One can never get any but a loose and -ignorant notion of such things except by experience. We tried our best -to make him comprehend the awful thing that had been done and how we -were compromised by it, but he couldn’t seem to get hold of it. He said -he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">113</a></span> did not think it important where Fischer went to; in heaven he -would not be missed, there were “plenty there.” We tried to make him -see that he was missing the point entirely; that Fischer, and not other -people, was the proper one to decide about the importance of it; but it -all went for nothing; he said he did not care for Fischer—there were -plenty more Fischers.</p> - -<p>The next minute Fischer went by on the other side of the way, and it -made us sick and faint to see him, remembering the doom that was upon -him, and we the cause of it. And how unconscious he was that anything -had happened to him! You could see by his elastic step and his alert -manner that he was well satisfied with himself for doing that hard -turn for poor Frau Brandt. He kept glancing back over his shoulder -expectantly. And, sure enough, pretty soon Frau Brandt followed after, -in charge of the officers and wearing jingling chains. A mob was in her -wake, jeering and shouting, “Blasphemer and heretic!” and some among -them were neighbors and friends of her happier days. Some were trying -to strike her, and the officers were not taking as much trouble as they -might to keep them from it.</p> - -<p>“Oh, stop them, Satan!” It was out before we remembered that he -could not interrupt them for a moment without changing their whole -after-lives. He puffed a little puff toward them with his lips and they -began to reel and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">114</a></span> stagger and grab at the empty air; then they broke -apart and fled in every direction, shrieking, as if in intolerable -pain. He had crushed a rib of each of them with that little puff. We -could not help asking if their life-chart was changed.</p> - -<p>“Yes, entirely. Some have gained years, some have lost them. Some few -will profit in various ways by the change, but only that few.”</p> - -<p>We did not ask if we had brought poor Fischer’s luck to any of them. -We did not wish to know. We fully believed in Satan’s desire to do -us kindnesses, but we were losing confidence in his judgment. It -was at this time that our growing anxiety to have him look over our -life-charts and suggest improvements began to fade out and give place -to other interests.</p> - -<p>For a day or two the whole village was a chattering turmoil over Frau -Brandt’s case and over the mysterious calamity that had overtaken the -mob, and at her trial the place was crowded. She was easily convicted -of her blasphemies, for she uttered those terrible words again and said -she would not take them back. When warned that she was imperiling her -life, she said they could take it in welcome, she did not want it, she -would rather live with the professional devils in perdition than with -these imitators in the village. They accused her of breaking all those -ribs by witchcraft, and asked her if she was not a witch? She answered -scornfully:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">115</a></span></p> - -<p>“No. If I had that power would any of you holy hypocrites be alive five -minutes? No; I would strike you all dead. Pronounce your sentence and -let me go; I am tired of your society.”</p> - -<p>So they found her guilty, and she was excommunicated and cut off -from the joys of heaven and doomed to the fires of hell; then she -was clothed in a coarse robe and delivered to the secular arm, and -conducted to the market-place, the bell solemnly tolling the while. We -saw her chained to the stake, and saw the first thin film of blue smoke -rise on the still air. Then her hard face softened, and she looked upon -the packed crowd in front of her and said, with gentleness:</p> - -<p>“We played together once, in long-agone days when we were innocent -little creatures. For the sake of that, I forgive you.”</p> - -<p>We went away then, and did not see the fires consume her, but we heard -the shrieks, although we put our fingers in our ears. When they ceased -we knew she was in heaven, notwithstanding the excommunication; and we -were glad of her death and not sorry that we had brought it about.</p> - -<p>One day, a little while after this, Satan appeared again. We were -always watching out for him, for life was never very stagnant when he -was by. He came upon us at that place in the woods where we had first -met him. Being boys, we wanted to be entertained; we asked him to do a -show for us.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">116</a></span></p> - -<p>“Very well,” he said; “would you like to see a history of the progress -of the human race?—its development of that product which it calls -civilization?”</p> - -<p>We said we should.</p> - -<p>So, with a thought, he turned the place into the Garden of Eden, and -we saw Abel praying by his altar; then Cain came walking toward him -with his club, and did not seem to see us, and would have stepped on my -foot if I had not drawn it in. He spoke to his brother in a language -which we did not understand; then he grew violent and threatening, and -we knew what was going to happen, and turned away our heads for the -moment; but we heard the crash of the blows and heard the shrieks and -the groans; then there was silence, and we saw Abel lying in his blood -and gasping out his life, and Cain standing over him and looking down -at him, vengeful and unrepentant.</p> - -<p>Then the vision vanished, and was followed by a long series of unknown -wars, murders, and massacres. Next we had the Flood, and the Ark -tossing around in the stormy waters, with lofty mountains in the -distance showing veiled and dim through the rain. Satan said:</p> - -<p>“The progress of your race was not satisfactory. It is to have another -chance now.”</p> - -<p>The scene changed, and we saw Noah overcome with wine.</p> - -<p>Next, we had Sodom and Gomorrah, and “the attempt<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">117</a></span> to discover two or -three respectable persons there,” as Satan described it. Next, Lot and -his daughters in the cave.</p> - -<p>Next came the Hebraic wars, and we saw the victims massacre the -survivors and their cattle, and save the young girls alive and -distribute them around.</p> - -<p>Next we had Jael; and saw her slip into the tent and drive the nail -into the temple of her sleeping guest; and we were so close that when -the blood gushed out it trickled in a little, red stream to our feet, -and we could have stained our hands in it if we had wanted to.</p> - -<p>Next we had Egyptian wars, Greek wars, Roman wars, hideous drenchings -of the earth with blood; and we saw the treacheries of the Romans -toward the Carthaginians, and the sickening spectacle of the massacre -of those brave people. Also we saw Cæsar invade Britain—“not that -those barbarians had done him any harm, but because he wanted their -land, and desired to confer the blessings of civilization upon their -widows and orphans,” as Satan explained.</p> - -<p>Next, Christianity was born. Then ages of Europe passed in review -before us, and we saw Christianity and Civilization march hand in hand -through those ages, “leaving famine and death and desolation in their -wake, and other signs of the progress of the human race,” as Satan -observed.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">118</a></span></p> - -<p>And always we had wars, and more wars, and still other wars—all over -Europe, all over the world. “Sometimes in the private interest of royal -families,” Satan said, “sometimes to crush a weak nation; but never a -war started by the aggressor for any clean purpose—there is no such -war in the history of the race.”</p> - -<p>“Now,” said Satan, “you have seen your progress down to the present, -and you must confess that it is wonderful—in its way. We must now -exhibit the future.”</p> - -<p>He showed us slaughters more terrible in their destruction of life, -more devastating in their engines of war, than any we had seen.</p> - -<p>“You perceive,” he said, “that you have made continual progress. Cain -did his murder with a club; the Hebrews did their murders with javelins -and swords; the Greeks and Romans added protective armor and the fine -arts of military organization and generalship; the Christian has added -guns and gunpowder; a few centuries from now he will have so greatly -improved the deadly effectiveness of his weapons of slaughter that all -men will confess that without Christian civilization war must have -remained a poor and trifling thing to the end of time.”</p> - -<p>Then he began to laugh in the most unfeeling way, and make fun of the -human race, although he knew that what he had been saying shamed us and -wounded us. No one but an angel could have acted so; but suffering<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">119</a></span> is -nothing to them; they do not know what it is, except by hearsay.</p> - -<p>More than once Seppi and I had tried in a humble and diffident way to -convert him, and as he had remained silent we had taken his silence -as a sort of encouragement; necessarily, then, this talk of his was a -disappointment to us, for it showed that we had made no deep impression -upon him. The thought made us sad, and we knew then how the missionary -must feel when he has been cherishing a glad hope and has seen it -blighted. We kept our grief to ourselves, knowing that this was not the -time to continue our work.</p> - -<p>Satan laughed his unkind laugh to a finish; then he said: “It is a -remarkable progress. In five or six thousand years five or six high -civilizations have risen, flourished, commanded the wonder of the -world, then faded out and disappeared; and not one of them except the -latest ever invented any sweeping and adequate way to kill people. -They all did their best—to kill being the chiefest ambition of the -human race and the earliest incident in its history—but only the -Christian civilization has scored a triumph to be proud of. Two or -three centuries from now it will be recognized that all the competent -killers are Christians; then the pagan world will go to school to the -Christian—not to acquire his religion, but his guns. The Turk and the -Chinaman will buy those to kill missionaries and converts with.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">120</a></span></p> - -<p>By this time his theater was at work again, and before our eyes nation -after nation drifted by, during two or three centuries, a mighty -procession, an endless procession, raging, struggling, wallowing -through seas of blood, smothered in battle-smoke through which the -flags glinted and the red jets from the cannon darted; and always we -heard the thunder of the guns and the cries of the dying.</p> - -<p>“And what does it amount to?” said Satan, with his evil chuckle. -“Nothing at all. You gain nothing; you always come out where you went -in. For a million years the race has gone on monotonously propagating -itself and monotonously reperforming this dull nonsense—to what end? -No wisdom can guess! Who gets a profit out of it? Nobody but a parcel -of usurping little monarchs and nobilities who despise you; would feel -defiled if you touched them; would shut the door in your face if you -proposed to call; whom you slave for, fight for, die for, and are not -ashamed of it, but proud; whose existence is a perpetual insult to you -and you are afraid to resent it; who are mendicants supported by your -alms, yet assume toward you the airs of benefactor toward beggar; who -address you in the language of master to slave, and are answered in -the language of slave to master; who are worshiped by you with your -mouth, while in your heart—if you have one—you despise yourselves -for it. The first man was a hypocrite and a coward, qualities which -have not yet failed in his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">121</a></span> line; it is the foundation upon which all -civilizations have been built. Drink to their perpetuation! Drink to -their augmentation! Drink to—” Then he saw by our faces how much we -were hurt, and he cut his sentence short and stopped chuckling, and -his manner changed. He said, gently: “No, we will drink one another’s -health, and let civilization go. The wine which has flown to our hands -out of space by desire is earthly, and good enough for that other -toast; but throw away the glasses; we will drink this one in wine which -has not visited this world before.”</p> - -<p>We obeyed, and reached up and received the new cups as they descended. -They were shapely and beautiful goblets, but they were not made of any -material that we were acquainted with. They seemed to be in motion, -they seemed to be alive; and certainly the colors in them were in -motion. They were very brilliant and sparkling, and of every tint, and -they were never still, but flowed to and fro in rich tides which met -and broke and flashed out dainty explosions of enchanting color. I -think it was most like opals washing about in waves and flashing out -their splendid fires. But there is nothing to compare the wine with. -We drank it, and felt a strange and witching ecstasy as of heaven go -stealing through us, and Seppi’s eyes filled and he said, worshipingly:</p> - -<p>“We shall be there some day, and then—”</p> - -<p>He glanced furtively at Satan, and I think he hoped<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">122</a></span> Satan would say, -“Yes, you will be there some day,” but Satan seemed to be thinking -about something else, and said nothing. This made me feel ghastly, -for I knew he had heard; nothing, spoken or unspoken, ever escaped -him. Poor Seppi looked distressed, and did not finish his remark. The -goblets rose and clove their way into the sky, a triplet of radiant -sundogs, and disappeared. Why didn’t they stay? It seemed a bad sign, -and depressed me. Should I ever see mine again? Would Seppi ever see -his?</p> - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<hr class="divider" /> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">123</a></span> -<h2><a name="ix" id="ix"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2> -</div> - -<p class="noi"><span class="dropcap">I</span>T was wonderful, the mastery Satan had over time and distance. For -him they did not exist. He called them human inventions, and said they -were artificialities. We often went to the most distant parts of the -globe with him, and stayed weeks and months, and yet were gone only -a fraction of a second, as a rule. You could prove it by the clock. -One day when our people were in such awful distress because the witch -commission were afraid to proceed against the astrologer and Father -Peter’s household, or against any, indeed, but the poor and the -friendless, they lost patience and took to witch-hunting on their own -score, and began to chase a born lady who was known to have the habit -of curing people by devilish arts, such as bathing them, washing them, -and nourishing them instead of bleeding them and purging them through -the ministrations of a barber-surgeon in the proper way. She came -flying down, with the howling and cursing mob after her, and tried to -take refuge in houses, but the doors were shut in her face. They chased -her more than half an hour, we following to see it, and at last she -was exhausted and fell, and they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">124</a></span> caught her. They dragged her to a -tree and threw a rope over the limb, and began to make a noose in it, -some holding her, meantime, and she crying and begging, and her young -daughter looking on and weeping, but afraid to say or do anything.</p> - -<p>They hanged the lady, and I threw a stone at her, although in my heart -I was sorry for her; but all were throwing stones and each was watching -his neighbor, and if I had not done as the others did it would have -been noticed and spoken of. Satan burst <a name="out" id="out"></a><ins title="Original has our">out</ins> laughing.</p> - -<p>All that were near by turned upon him, astonished and not pleased. -It was an ill time to laugh, for his free and scoffing ways and his -supernatural music had brought him under suspicion all over the town -and turned many privately against him. The big blacksmith called -attention to him now, raising his voice so that all should hear, and -said:</p> - -<p>“What are you laughing at? Answer! Moreover, please explain to the -company why you threw no stone.”</p> - -<p>“Are you sure I did not throw a stone?”</p> - -<p>“Yes. You needn’t try to get out of it; I had my eye on you.”</p> - -<p>“And I—I noticed you!” shouted two others.</p> - -<p>“Three witnesses,” said Satan: “Mueller, the blacksmith; Klein, the -butcher’s man; Pfeiffer, the weaver’s journeyman. Three very ordinary -liars. Are there any more?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">125</a></span></p> - -<p>“Never mind whether there are others or not, and never mind about what -you consider us—three’s enough to settle your matter for you. You’ll -prove that you threw a stone, or it shall go hard with you.”</p> - -<p>“That’s so!” shouted the crowd, and surged up as closely as they could -to the center of interest.</p> - -<p>“And first you will answer that other question,” cried the blacksmith, -pleased with himself for being mouthpiece to the public and hero of the -occasion. “What are you laughing at?”</p> - -<p>Satan smiled and answered, pleasantly: “To see three cowards stoning a -dying lady when they were so near death themselves.”</p> - -<p>You could see the superstitious crowd shrink and catch their breath, -under the sudden shock. The blacksmith, with a show of bravado, said:</p> - -<p>“Pooh! What do you know about it?”</p> - -<p>“I? Everything. By profession I am a fortune-teller, and I read the -hands of you three—and some others—when you lifted them to stone the -woman. One of you will die to-morrow week; another of you will die -to-night; the third has but five minutes to live—and yonder is the -clock!”</p> - -<p>It made a sensation. The faces of the crowd blanched, and turned -mechanically toward the clock. The butcher and the weaver seemed -smitten with an illness, but the blacksmith braced up and said, with -spirit:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">126</a></span></p> - -<p>“It is not long to wait for prediction number one. If it fails, young -master, you will not live a whole minute after, I promise you that.”</p> - -<p>No one said anything; all watched the clock in a deep stillness which -was impressive. When four and a half minutes were gone the blacksmith -gave a sudden gasp and clapped his hand upon his heart, saying, “Give -me breath! Give me room!” and began to sink down. The crowd surged -back, no one offering to support him, and he fell lumbering to the -ground and was dead. The people stared at him, then at Satan, then at -one another; and their lips moved, but no words came. Then Satan said:</p> - -<p>“Three saw that I threw no stone. Perhaps there are others; let them -speak.”</p> - -<p>It struck a kind of panic into them, and, although no one answered -him, many began to violently accuse one another, saying, “You said he -didn’t throw,” and getting for reply, “It is a lie, and I will make you -eat it!” And so in a moment they were in a raging and noisy turmoil, -and beating and banging one another; and in the midst was the only -indifferent one—the dead lady hanging from her rope, her troubles -forgotten, her spirit at peace.</p> - -<p>So we walked away, and I was not at ease, but was saying to myself, “He -told them he was laughing at them, but it was a lie—he was laughing at -me.”</p> - -<p>That made him laugh again, and he said, “Yes, I was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">127</a></span> laughing at you, -because, in fear of what others might report about you, you stoned the -woman when your heart revolted at the act—but I was laughing at the -others, too.”</p> - -<p>“Why?”</p> - -<p>“Because their case was yours.”</p> - -<p>“How is that?”</p> - -<p>“Well, there were sixty-eight people there, and sixty-two of them had -no more desire to throw a stone than you had.”</p> - -<p>“Satan!”</p> - -<p>“Oh, it’s true. I know your race. It is made up of sheep. It is -governed by minorities, seldom or never by majorities. It suppresses -its feelings and its beliefs and follows the handful that makes the -most noise. Sometimes the noisy handful is right, sometimes wrong; -but no matter, the crowd follows it. The vast majority of the race, -whether savage or civilized, are secretly kind-hearted and shrink -from inflicting pain, but in the presence of the aggressive and -pitiless minority they don’t dare to assert themselves. Think of it! -One kind-hearted creature spies upon another, and sees to it that -he loyally helps in iniquities which revolt both of them. Speaking -as an expert, I know that ninety-nine out of a hundred of your race -were strongly against the killing of witches when that foolishness -was first agitated by a handful of pious lunatics in the long ago. -And I know that even to-day, after ages of transmitted prejudice<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">128</a></span> and -silly teaching, only one person in twenty puts any real heart into the -harrying of a witch. And yet apparently everybody hates witches and -wants them killed. Some day a handful will rise up on the other side -and make the most noise—perhaps even a single daring man with a big -voice and a determined front will do it—and in a week all the sheep -will wheel and follow him, and witch-hunting will come to a sudden end.</p> - -<p>“Monarchies, aristocracies, and religions are all based upon that large -defect in your race—the individual’s distrust of his neighbor, and his -desire, for safety’s or comfort’s sake, to stand well in his neighbor’s -eye. These institutions will always remain, and always flourish, and -always oppress you, affront you, and degrade you, because you will -always be and remain slaves of minorities. There was never a country -where the majority of the people were in their secret hearts loyal to -any of these institutions.”</p> - -<p>I did not like to hear our race called sheep, and said I did not think -they were.</p> - -<p>“Still, it is true, lamb,” said Satan. “Look at you in war—what mutton -you are, and how ridiculous!”</p> - -<p>“In war? How?”</p> - -<p>“There has never been a just one, never an honorable one—on the part -of the instigator of the war. I can see a million years ahead, and -this rule will never change in so many as half a dozen instances. The -loud little handful—as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">129</a></span> usual—will shout for the war. The pulpit -will—warily and cautiously—object—at first; the great, big, dull -bulk of the nation will rub its sleepy eyes and try to make out why -there should be a war, and will say, earnestly and indignantly, “It is -unjust and dishonorable, and there is no necessity for it.” Then the -handful will shout louder. A few fair men on the other side will argue -and reason against the war with speech and pen, and at first will have -a hearing and be applauded; but it will not last long; those others -will outshout them, and presently the anti-war audiences will thin -out and lose popularity. Before long you will see this curious thing: -the speakers stoned from the platform, and free speech strangled by -hordes of furious men who in their secret hearts are still at one with -those stoned speakers—as earlier—but do not dare to say so. And now -the whole nation—pulpit and all—will take up the war-cry, and shout -itself hoarse, and mob any honest man who ventures to open his mouth; -and presently such mouths will cease to open. Next the statesmen will -invent cheap lies, putting the blame upon the nation that is attacked, -and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities, and -will diligently study them, and refuse to examine any refutations of -them; and thus he will by and by convince himself that the war is just, -and will thank God for the better sleep he enjoys after this process of -grotesque self-deception.”</p> - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<hr class="divider" /> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">130</a></span> -<h2><a name="x" id="x"></a>CHAPTER X</h2> -</div> - -<p class="noi"><span class="dropcap">D</span>AYS and days went by now, and no Satan. It was dull without him. But -the astrologer, who had returned from his excursion to the moon, went -about the village, braving public opinion, and getting a stone in -the middle of his back now and then when some witch-hater got a safe -chance to throw it and dodge out of sight. Meantime two influences had -been working well for Marget. That Satan, who was quite indifferent -to her, had stopped going to her house after a visit or two had hurt -her pride, and she had set herself the task of banishing him from her -heart. Reports of Wilhelm Meidling’s dissipation brought to her from -time to time by old Ursula had touched her with remorse, jealousy of -Satan being the cause of it; and so now, these two matters working upon -her together, she was getting a good profit out of the combination—her -interest in Satan was steadily cooling, her interest in Wilhelm as -steadily warming. All that was needed to complete her conversion -was that Wilhelm should brace up and do something that should cause -favorable talk and incline the public toward him again.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">131</a></span></p> - -<p>The opportunity came now. Marget sent and asked him to defend her -uncle in the approaching trial, and he was greatly pleased, and -stopped drinking and began his preparations with diligence. With more -diligence than hope, in fact, for it was not a promising case. He had -many interviews in his office with Seppi and me, and threshed out our -testimony pretty thoroughly, thinking to find some valuable grains -among the chaff, but the harvest was poor, of course.</p> - -<p>If Satan would only come! That was my constant thought. He could -invent some way to win the case; for he had said it would be won, so -he necessarily knew how it could be done. But the days dragged on, and -still he did not come. Of course I did not doubt that it would win, -and that Father Peter would be happy for the rest of his life, since -Satan had said so; yet I knew I should be much more comfortable if he -would come and tell us how to manage it. It was getting high time for -Father Peter to have a saving change toward happiness, for by general -report he was worn out with his imprisonment and the ignominy that was -burdening him, and was like to die of his miseries unless he got relief -soon.</p> - -<p>At last the trial came on, and the people gathered from all around to -witness it; among them many strangers from considerable distances. Yes, -everybody was there except the accused. He was too feeble in body for -the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">132</a></span> strain. But Marget was present, and keeping up her hope and her -spirit the best she could. The money was present, too. It was emptied -on the table, and was handled and caressed and examined by such as were -privileged.</p> - -<p>The astrologer was put in the witness-box. He had on his best hat and -robe for the occasion.</p> - -<p><em>Question.</em> You claim that this money is yours?</p> - -<p><em>Answer.</em> I do.</p> - -<p><em>Q.</em> How did you come by it?</p> - -<p><em>A.</em> I found the bag in the road when I was returning from a journey.</p> - -<p><em>Q.</em> When?</p> - -<p><em>A.</em> More than two years ago.</p> - -<p><em>Q.</em> What did you do with it?</p> - -<p><em>A.</em> I brought it home and hid it in a secret place in my observatory, -intending to find the owner if I could.</p> - -<p><em>Q.</em> You endeavored to find him?</p> - -<p><em>A.</em> I made diligent inquiry during several months, but nothing came of -it.</p> - -<p><em>Q.</em> And then?</p> - -<p><em>A.</em> I thought it not worth while to look further, and was minded to -use the money in finishing the wing of the foundling-asylum connected -with the priory and nunnery. So I took it out of its hiding-place and -counted it to see if any of it was missing. And then—</p> - -<p><em>Q.</em> Why do you stop? Proceed.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">133</a></span></p> - -<p><em>A.</em> I am sorry to have to say this, but just as I had finished and -was restoring the bag to its place, I looked up and there stood Father -Peter behind me.</p> - -<p>Several murmured, “That looks bad,” but others answered, “Ah, but he is -such a liar!”</p> - -<p><em>Q.</em> That made you uneasy?</p> - -<p><em>A.</em> No; I thought nothing of it at the time, for Father Peter often -came to me unannounced to ask for a little help in his need.</p> - -<p>Marget blushed crimson at hearing her uncle falsely and impudently -charged with begging, especially from one he had always denounced as a -fraud, and was going to speak, but remembered herself in time and held -her peace.</p> - -<p><em>Q.</em> Proceed.</p> - -<p><em>A.</em> In the end I was afraid to contribute the money to the -foundling-asylum, but elected to wait yet another year and continue -my inquiries. When I heard of Father Peter’s find I was glad, and no -suspicions entered my mind; when I came home a day or two later and -discovered that my own money was gone I still did not suspect until -three circumstances connected with Father Peter’s good fortune struck -me as being singular coincidences.</p> - -<p><em>Q.</em> Pray name them.</p> - -<p><em>A.</em> Father Peter had found his money in a path—I had found mine in a -road. Father Peter’s find consisted exclusively of gold ducats—mine -also. Father Peter<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">134</a></span> found eleven hundred and seven ducats—I exactly -the same.</p> - -<p>This closed his evidence, and certainly it made a strong impression on -the house; one could see that.</p> - -<p>Wilhelm Meidling asked him some questions, then called us boys, and we -told our tale. It made the people laugh, and we were ashamed. We were -feeling pretty badly, anyhow, because Wilhelm was hopeless, and showed -it. He was doing as well as he could, poor young fellow, but nothing -was in his favor, and such sympathy as there was was now plainly not -with his client. It might be difficult for court and people to believe -the astrologer’s story, considering his character, but it was almost -impossible to believe Father Peter’s. We were already feeling badly -enough, but when the astrologer’s lawyer said he believed he would -not ask us any questions—for our story was a little delicate and it -would be cruel for him to put any strain upon it—everybody tittered, -and it was almost more than we could bear. Then he made a sarcastic -little speech, and got so much fun out of our tale, and it seemed so -ridiculous and childish and every way impossible and foolish, that it -made everybody laugh till the tears came; and at last Marget could not -keep up her courage any longer, but broke down and cried, and I was so -sorry for her.</p> - -<p>Now I noticed something that braced me up. It was Satan standing -alongside of Wilhelm! And there was such<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">135</a></span> a contrast!—Satan looked so -confident, had such a spirit in his eyes and face, and Wilhelm looked -so depressed and despondent. We two were comfortable now, and judged -that he would testify and persuade the bench and the people that black -was white and white black, or any other color he wanted it. We glanced -around to see what the strangers in the house thought of him, for he -was beautiful, you know—stunning, in fact—but no one was noticing -him; so we knew by that that he was invisible.</p> - -<p>The lawyer was saying his last words; and while he was saying them -Satan began to melt into Wilhelm. He melted into him and disappeared; -and then there was a change, when his spirit began to look out of -Wilhelm’s eyes.</p> - -<p>That lawyer finished quite seriously, and with dignity. He pointed to -the money, and said:</p> - -<p>“The love of it is the root of all evil. There it lies, the ancient -tempter, newly red with the shame of its latest victory—the dishonor -of a priest of God and his two poor juvenile helpers in crime. If it -could but speak, let us hope that it would be constrained to confess -that of all its conquests this was the basest and the most pathetic.”</p> - -<p>He sat down. Wilhelm rose and said:</p> - -<p>“From the testimony of the accuser I gather that he found this money -in a road more than two years ago. Correct me, sir, if I misunderstood -you.”</p> - -<p>The astrologer said his understanding of it was correct.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">136</a></span></p> - -<p>“And the money so found was never out of his hands thenceforth up to a -certain definite date—the last day of last year. Correct me, sir, if I -am wrong.”</p> - -<p>The astrologer nodded his head. Wilhelm turned to the bench and said:</p> - -<p>“If I prove that this money here was not that money, then it is not -his?”</p> - -<p>“Certainly not; but this is irregular. If you had such a witness it -was your duty to give proper notice of it and have him here to—” He -broke off and began to consult with the other judges. Meantime that -other lawyer got up excited and began to protest against allowing new -witnesses to be brought into the case at this late stage.</p> - -<p>The judges decided that his contention was just and must be allowed.</p> - -<p>“But this is not a new witness,” said Wilhelm. “It has already been -partly examined. I speak of the coin.”</p> - -<p>“The coin? What can the coin say?”</p> - -<p>“It can say it is not the coin that the astrologer once possessed. It -can say it was not in existence last December. By its date it can say -this.”</p> - -<p>And it was so! There was the greatest excitement in the court while -that lawyer and the judges were reaching for coins and examining them -and exclaiming. And everybody was full of admiration of Wilhelm’s -brightness in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">137</a></span> happening to think of that neat idea. At last order was -called and the court said:</p> - -<p>“All of the coins but four are of the date of the present year. The -court tenders its sincere sympathy to the accused, and its deep regret -that he, an innocent man, through an unfortunate mistake, has suffered -the undeserved humiliation of imprisonment and trial. The case is -dismissed.”</p> - -<p>So the money could speak, after all, though that lawyer thought it -couldn’t. The court rose, and almost everybody came forward to shake -hands with Marget and congratulate her, and then to shake with Wilhelm -and praise him; and Satan had stepped out of Wilhelm and was standing -around looking on full of interest, and people walking through him -every which way, not knowing he was there. And Wilhelm could not -explain why he only thought of the date on the coins at the last -moment, instead of earlier; he said it just occurred to him, all of -a sudden, like an inspiration, and he brought it right out without -any hesitation, for, although he didn’t examine the coins, he seemed, -somehow, to know it was true. That was honest of him, and like him; -another would have pretended he had thought of it earlier, and was -keeping it back for a surprise.</p> - -<p>He had dulled down a little now; not much, but still you could notice -that he hadn’t that luminous look in his eyes that he had while Satan -was in him. He nearly got it back, though, for a moment when Marget -came and praised<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">138</a></span> him and thanked him and couldn’t keep him from seeing -how proud she was of him. The astrologer went off dissatisfied and -cursing, and Solomon Isaacs gathered up the money and carried it away. -It was Father Peter’s for good and all, now.</p> - -<p>Satan was gone. I judged that he had spirited himself away to the jail -to tell the prisoner the news; and in this I was right. Marget and -the rest of us hurried thither at our best speed, in a great state of -rejoicing.</p> - -<p>Well, what Satan had done was this: he had appeared before that poor -prisoner, exclaiming, “The trial is over, and you stand forever -disgraced as a thief—by verdict of the court!”</p> - -<p>The shock unseated the old man’s reason. When we arrived, ten minutes -later, he was parading pompously up and down and delivering commands to -this and that and the other constable or jailer, and calling them Grand -Chamberlain, and Prince This and Prince That, and Admiral of the Fleet, -Field Marshal in Command, and all such fustian, and was as happy as a -bird. He thought he was Emperor!</p> - -<p>Marget flung herself on his breast and cried, and indeed everybody -was moved almost to heartbreak. He recognized Marget, but could not -understand why she should cry. He patted her on the shoulder and said:</p> - -<p>“Don’t do it, dear; remember, there are witnesses, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">139</a></span> it is not -becoming in the Crown Princess. Tell me your trouble—it shall be -mended; there is nothing the Emperor cannot do.” Then he looked around -and saw old Ursula with her apron to her eyes. He was puzzled at that, -and said, “And what is the matter with you?”</p> - -<p>Through her sobs she got out words explaining that she was distressed -to see him—“so.” He reflected over that a moment, then muttered, as -if to himself: “A singular old thing, the Dowager Duchess—means well, -but is always snuffling and never able to tell what it is about. It is -because she doesn’t know.” His eye fell on Wilhelm. “Prince of India,” -he said, “I divine that it is you that the Crown Princess is concerned -about. Her tears shall be dried; I will no longer stand between you; -she shall share your throne; and between you you shall inherit mine. -There, little lady, have I done well? You can smile now—isn’t it so?”</p> - -<p>He petted Marget and kissed her, and was so contented with himself and -with everybody that he could not do enough for us all, but began to -give away kingdoms and such things right and left, and the least that -any of us got was a principality. And so at last, being persuaded to go -home, he marched in imposing state; and when the crowds along the way -saw how it gratified him to be hurrahed at, they humored him to the top -of his desire, and he responded with condescending bows and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">140</a></span> gracious -smiles, and often stretched out a hand and said, “Bless you, my people!”</p> - -<p>As pitiful a sight as ever I saw. And Marget, and old Ursula crying all -the way.</p> - -<p>On my road home I came upon Satan, and reproached him with deceiving -me with that lie. He was not embarrassed, but said, quite simply and -composedly:</p> - -<p>“Ah, you mistake; it was the truth. I said he would be happy the rest -of his days, and he will, for he will always think he is the Emperor, -and his pride in it and his joy in it will endure to the end. He is -now, and will remain, the one utterly happy person in this empire.”</p> - -<p>“But the method of it, Satan, the method! Couldn’t you have done it -without depriving him of his reason?”</p> - -<p>It was difficult to irritate Satan, but that accomplished it.</p> - -<p>“What an ass you are!” he said. “Are you so unobservant as not to have -found out that sanity and happiness are an impossible combination? -No sane man can be happy, for to him life is real, and he sees what -a fearful thing it is. Only the mad can be happy, and not many of -those. The few that imagine themselves kings or gods are happy, the -rest are no happier than the sane. Of course, no man is entirely in -his right mind at any time, but I have been referring to the extreme -cases. I have taken from this man that trumpery thing which the race -regards as a Mind; I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">141</a></span> have replaced his tin life with a silver-gilt -fiction; you see the result—and you criticize! I said I would make him -permanently happy, and I have done it. I have made him happy by the -only means possible to his race—and you are not satisfied!” He heaved -a discouraged sigh, and said, “It seems to me that this race is hard to -please.”</p> - -<p>There it was, you see. He didn’t seem to know any way to do a person -a favor except by killing him or making a lunatic out of him. I -apologized, as well as I could; but privately I did not think much of -his processes—at that time.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Satan was accustomed to say that our race lived a life of continuous -and uninterrupted self-deception. It duped itself from cradle to grave -with shams and delusions which it mistook for realities, and this -made its entire life a sham. Of the score of fine qualities which it -imagined it had and was vain of, it really possessed hardly one. It -regarded itself as gold, and was only brass. One day when he was in -this vein he mentioned a detail—the sense of humor. I cheered up then, -and took issue. I said we possessed it.</p> - -<p>“There spoke the race!” he said; “always ready to claim what it -hasn’t got, and mistake its ounce of brass filings for a ton of -gold-dust. You have a mongrel perception of humor, nothing more; a -multitude of you possess that. This multitude see the comic side of a -thousand low-grade and trivial things—broad incongruities, mainly; -grotesqueries,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">142</a></span> absurdities, evokers of the horse-laugh. The ten -thousand high-grade comicalities which exist in the world are sealed -from their dull vision. Will a day come when the race will detect the -funniness of these juvenilities and laugh at them—and by laughing at -them destroy them? For your race, in its poverty, has, unquestionably -one really effective weapon—laughter. Power, money, persuasion, -supplication, persecution—these can lift at a colossal humbug—push it -a little—weaken it a little, century by century; but only laughter can -blow it to rags and atoms at a blast. Against the assault of laughter -nothing can stand. You are always fussing and fighting with your other -weapons. Do you ever use that one? No; you leave it lying rusting. As a -race, do you ever use it at all? No; you lack sense and the courage.”</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>We were traveling at the time and stopped at a little city in India -and looked on while a juggler did his tricks before a group of -natives. They were wonderful, but I knew Satan could beat that game, -and I begged him to show off a little, and he said he would. He -changed himself into a native in turban and breech-cloth, and very -considerately conferred on me a temporary knowledge of the language.</p> - -<p>The juggler exhibited a seed, covered it with earth in a small -flower-pot, then put a rag over the pot; after a minute the rag began -to rise; in ten minutes it had risen a foot;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">143</a></span> then the rag was removed -and a little tree was exposed, with leaves upon it and ripe fruit. We -ate the fruit, and it was good. But Satan said:</p> - -<p>“Why do you cover the pot? Can’t you grow the tree in the sunlight?”</p> - -<p>“No,” said the juggler; “no one can do that.”</p> - -<p>“You are only an apprentice; you don’t know your trade. Give me the -seed. I will show you.” He took the seed and said, “What shall I raise -from it?”</p> - -<p>“It is a cherry seed; of course you will raise a cherry.”</p> - -<p>“Oh no; that is a trifle; any novice can do that. Shall I raise an -orange-tree from it?”</p> - -<p>“Oh yes!” and the juggler laughed.</p> - -<p>“And shall I make it bear other fruits as well as oranges?”</p> - -<p>“If God wills!” and they all laughed.</p> - -<p>Satan put the seed in the ground, put a handful of dust on it, and -said, “Rise!”</p> - -<p>A tiny stem shot up and began to grow, and grew so fast that in five -minutes it was a great tree, and we were sitting in the shade of it. -There was a murmur of wonder, then all looked up and saw a strange and -pretty sight, for the branches were heavy with fruits of many kinds -and colors—oranges, grapes, bananas, peaches, cherries, apricots, and -so on. Baskets were brought, and the unlading of the tree began; and -the people crowded around Satan and kissed his hand, and praised him, -calling him the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">144</a></span> prince of jugglers. The news went about the town, and -everybody came running to see the wonder—and they remembered to bring -baskets, too. But the tree was equal to the occasion; it put out new -fruits as fast as any were removed; baskets were filled by the score -and by the hundred, but always the supply remained undiminished. At -last a foreigner in white linen and sun-helmet arrived, and exclaimed, -angrily:</p> - -<p>“Away from here! Clear out, you dogs; the tree is on my lands and is my -property.”</p> - -<p>The natives put down their baskets and made humble obeisance. Satan -made humble obeisance, too, with his fingers to his forehead, in the -native way, and said:</p> - -<p>“Please let them have their pleasure for an hour, sir—only that, and -no longer. Afterward you may forbid them; and you will still have more -fruit than you and the state together can consume in a year.”</p> - -<p>This made the foreigner very angry, and he cried out, “Who are you, you -vagabond, to tell your betters what they may do and what they mayn’t!” -and he struck Satan with his cane and followed this error with a kick.</p> - -<p>The fruits rotted on the branches, and the leaves withered and fell. -The foreigner gazed at the bare limbs with the look of one who is -surprised, and not gratified. Satan said:</p> - -<p>“Take good care of the tree, for its health and yours<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">145</a></span> are bound -together. It will never bear again, but if you tend it well it will -live long. Water its roots once in each hour every night—and do it -yourself; it must not be done by proxy, and to do it in daylight will -not answer. If you fail only once in any night, the tree will die, and -you likewise. Do not go home to your own country any more—you would -not reach there; make no business or pleasure engagements which require -you to go outside your gate at night—you cannot afford the risk; do -not rent or sell this place—it would be injudicious.”</p> - -<p>The foreigner was proud and wouldn’t beg, but I thought he looked as if -he would like to. While he stood gazing at Satan we vanished away and -landed in Ceylon.</p> - -<p>I was sorry for that man; sorry Satan hadn’t been his customary self -and killed him or made him a lunatic. It would have been a mercy. Satan -overheard the thought, and said:</p> - -<p>“I would have done it but for his wife, who has not offended me. She is -coming to him presently from their native land, Portugal. She is well, -but has not long to live, and has been yearning to see him and persuade -him to go back with her next year. She will die without knowing he -can’t leave that place?”</p> - -<p>“He won’t tell her?”</p> - -<p>“He? He will not trust that secret with any one; he will reflect that -it could be revealed in sleep, in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">146</a></span> hearing of some Portuguese -guest’s servant some time or other.”</p> - -<p>“Did none of those natives understand what you said to him?”</p> - -<p>“None of them understood, but he will always be afraid that some of -them did. That fear will be torture to him, for he has been a harsh -master to them. In his dreams he will imagine them chopping his tree -down. That will make his days uncomfortable—I have already arranged -for his nights.”</p> - -<p>It grieved me, though not sharply, to see him take such a malicious -satisfaction in his plans for this foreigner.</p> - -<p>“Does he believe what you told him, Satan?”</p> - -<p>“He thought he didn’t, but our vanishing helped. The tree, where there -had been no tree before—that helped. The insane and uncanny variety of -fruits—the sudden withering—all these things are helps. Let him think -as he may, reason as he may, one thing is certain, he will water the -tree. But between this and night he will begin his changed career with -a very natural precaution—for him.”</p> - -<p>“What is that?”</p> - -<p>“He will fetch a priest to cast out the tree’s devil. You are such a -humorous race—and don’t suspect it.”</p> - -<p>“Will he tell the priest?”</p> - -<p>“No. He will say a juggler from Bombay created it, and that he wants -the juggler’s devil driven out of it, so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">147</a></span> that it will thrive and -be fruitful again. The priest’s incantations will fail; then the -Portuguese will give up that scheme and get his watering-pot ready.”</p> - -<p>“But the priest will burn the tree. I know it; he will not allow it to -remain.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, and anywhere in Europe he would burn the man, too. But in India -the people are civilized, and these things will not happen. The man -will drive the priest away and take care of the tree.”</p> - -<p>I reflected a little, then said, “Satan, you have given him a hard -life, I think.”</p> - -<p>“Comparatively. It must not be mistaken for a holiday.”</p> - -<p>We flitted from place to place around the world as we had done before, -Satan showing me a hundred wonders, most of them reflecting in some -way the weakness and triviality of our race. He did this now every few -days—not out of malice—I am sure of that—it only seemed to amuse and -interest him, just as a naturalist might be amused and interested by a -collection of ants.</p> - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<hr class="divider" /> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">148</a></span> -<h2><a name="xi" id="xi"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2> -</div> - -<p class="noi"><span class="dropcap">F</span>OR as much as a year Satan continued these visits, but at last he -came less often, and then for a long time he did not come at all. -This always made me lonely and melancholy. I felt that he was losing -interest in our tiny world and might at any time abandon his visits -entirely. When one day he finally came to me I was overjoyed, but only -for a little while. He had come to say good-by, he told me, and for -the last time. He had investigations and undertakings in other corners -of the universe, he said, that would keep him busy for a longer period -than I could wait for his return.</p> - -<p>“And you are going away, and will not come back any more?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” he said. “We have comraded long together, and it has been -pleasant—pleasant for both; but I must go now, and we shall not see -each other any more.”</p> - -<p>“In this life, Satan, but in another? We shall meet in another, surely?”</p> - -<div class="figcenter width400"> -<a href="images/i-148al.jpg"> -<img src="images/i-148a.jpg" width="400" height="509" alt="" /></a> -<div class="caption">“LIFE ITSELF IS ONLY A VISION, A DREAM”</div> -</div> - -<p>Then, all tranquilly and soberly, he made the strange answer, “<em>There -is no other.</em>”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">149</a></span></p> - -<p>A subtle influence blew upon my spirit from his, bringing with it a -vague, dim, but blessed and hopeful feeling that the incredible words -might be true—even must be true.</p> - -<p>“Have you never suspected this, Theodor?”</p> - -<p>“No. How could I? But if it can only be true—”</p> - -<p>“It is true.”</p> - -<p>A gust of thankfulness rose in my breast, but a doubt checked it before -it could issue in words, and I said, “But—but—we have seen that -future life—seen it in its actuality, and so—”</p> - -<p>“It was a vision—it had no existence.”</p> - -<p>I could hardly breathe for the great hope that was struggling in me. “A -vision?—a vi—”</p> - -<p>“<em>Life itself is only a vision, a dream.</em>”</p> - -<p>It was electrical. By God! I had had that very thought a thousand times -in my musings!</p> - -<p>“<em>Nothing</em> exists; all is a dream. God—man—the world—the sun, the -moon, the wilderness of stars—a dream, all a dream; they have no -existence. <em>Nothing exists save empty space—and you!</em>”</p> - -<p>“I!”</p> - -<p>“And you are not you—you have no body, no blood, no bones, you are but -a <em>thought</em>. I myself have no existence; I am but a dream—your dream, -creature of your imagination. In a moment you will have realized this, -then you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">150</a></span> will banish me from your visions and I shall dissolve into -the nothingness out of which you made me....</p> - -<p>“I am perishing already—I am failing—I am passing away. In a -little while you will be alone in shoreless space, to wander its -limitless solitudes without friend or comrade forever—for you will -remain a <em>thought</em>, the only existent thought, and by your nature -inextinguishable, indestructible. But I, your poor servant, have -revealed you to yourself and set you free. Dream other dreams, and -better!</p> - -<p>“Strange! that you should not have suspected years ago—centuries, -ages, eons ago!—for you have existed, companionless, through all the -eternities. Strange, indeed, that you should not have suspected that -your universe and its contents were only dreams, visions, fiction! -Strange, because they are so frankly and hysterically insane—like -all dreams: a God who could make good children as easily as bad, yet -preferred to make bad ones; who could have made every one of them -happy, yet never made a single happy one; who made them prize their -bitter life, yet stingily cut it short; who gave his angels eternal -happiness unearned, yet required his other children to earn it; who -gave his angels painless lives, yet cursed his other children with -biting miseries and maladies of mind and body; who mouths justice and -invented hell—mouths mercy and invented hell—mouths Golden Rules, and -forgiveness multiplied by seventy times seven, and invented hell; who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">151</a></span> -mouths morals to other people and has none himself; who frowns upon -crimes, yet commits them all; who created man without invitation, then -tries to shuffle the responsibility for man’s acts upon man, instead -of honorably placing it where it belongs, upon himself; and finally, -with altogether divine obtuseness, invites this poor, abused slave to -worship him!...</p> - -<p>“You perceive, <em>now</em>, that these things are all impossible except -in a dream. You perceive that they are pure and puerile insanities, -the silly creations of an imagination that is not conscious of its -freaks—in a word, that they are a dream, and you the maker of it. The -dream-marks are all present; you should have recognized them earlier.</p> - -<p>“It is true, that which I have revealed to you: there is no God, no -universe, no human race, no earthly life, no heaven, no hell. It is all -a dream—a grotesque and foolish dream. Nothing exists but you. And you -are but a <em>thought</em>—a vagrant thought, a useless thought, a homeless -thought, wandering forlorn among the empty eternities!”</p> - -<p>He vanished, and left me appalled; for I knew, and realized, that all -he had said was true.</p> - - -<p class="center p120">THE END</p> - - -<div class="section"> -<hr class="divider" /> -</div> -<div class="container"> -<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Books by</span></p> - -<p class="center p120">MARK TWAIN</p> - -<p class="center">Cloth</p> - -<ul class="booklist left-list"> -<li><span class="smcap">The American Claimant</span></li> -<li><span class="smcap">Christian Science</span></li> -<li><span class="smcap">A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court</span></li> -<li><span class="smcap">Following the Equator</span></li> -<li><span class="smcap">The Gilded Age</span></li> -<li><span class="smcap">The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn</span></li> -<li><span class="smcap">The Innocents Abroad</span></li> -<li><span class="smcap">Joan of Arc</span></li> -<li><span class="smcap">Life on the Mississippi</span></li> -</ul> -<ul class="booklist right-list"> -<li><span class="smcap">Mark Twain’s Speeches</span></li> -<li><span class="smcap">The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg</span></li> -<li><span class="smcap">The Prince and Pauper</span></li> -<li><span class="smcap">Pudd’nhead Wilson</span></li> -<li><span class="smcap">Roughing It</span></li> -<li><span class="smcap">Sketches New and Old</span></li> -<li><span class="smcap">The $30,000 Bequest</span></li> -<li><span class="smcap">Tom Sawyer Abroad</span></li> -<li><span class="smcap">The Adventures of Tom Sawyer</span></li> -<li><span class="smcap">A Tramp Abroad</span></li> -</ul> - -<p class="center clear">Thin-Paper Limp-Leather</p> - -<ul class="booklist right-list"> -<li><span class="smcap">The American Claimant</span></li> -<li><span class="smcap">Christian Science</span></li> -<li><span class="smcap">A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court</span></li> -<li><span class="smcap">Following the Equator.</span> 2 Vols.</li> -<li><span class="smcap">The Gilded Age.</span> 2 Vols.</li> -<li><span class="smcap">How to Tell a Story</span></li> -<li><span class="smcap">The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn</span></li> -<li><span class="smcap">The Innocents Abroad</span>. 2 Vols.</li> -<li><span class="smcap">Joan of Arc.</span> 2 Vols.</li> -</ul> -<ul class="booklist right-list"> -<li><span class="smcap">Life on the Mississippi</span></li> -<li><span class="smcap">The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg</span></li> -<li><span class="smcap">The Prince and Pauper</span></li> -<li><span class="smcap">Pudd’nhead Wilson</span></li> -<li><span class="smcap">Roughing It.</span> 2 Vols.</li> -<li><span class="smcap">Sketches New and Old</span></li> -<li><span class="smcap">The $30,000 Bequest</span></li> -<li><span class="smcap">The Adventures of Tom Sawyer</span></li> -<li><span class="smcap">Tom Sawyer Abroad</span></li> -<li><span class="smcap">A Tramp Abroad.</span> 2 Vols.</li> -</ul> - -<p class="center clear">HARPER & BROTHERS, NEW YORK</p> -</div> - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<hr class="divider" /> -</div> -<div class="tn"> -<p class="center p120">Transcriber’s Note:</p> - -<p class="noi">Spelling, hyphenation and punctuation have been -retained as they appear in the original publication except as follows:</p> - -<ul class="nobullet"> - <li>Page 17</li> - <li> - <ul> - <li>began to annoy them <em>changed to</em><br /> - began to annoy <a href="#him">him</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li>Page 24</li> - <li> - <ul> - <li>Father Peter is coming. <em>changed to</em><br /> - Father Peter is <a href="#coming">coming.”</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li>Page 46</li> - <li> - <ul> - <li>in his pocket every morning. <em>changed to</em><br /> - in his pocket every <a href="#morning">morning.”</a></li> - <li>lay four silver groshchen <em>changed to</em><br /> - lay four silver <a href="#groschen">groschen</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li>Page 79</li> - <li> - <ul> - <li>and Wolhmeyer said <em>changed to</em><br /> - and <a href="#Wohlmeyer">Wohlmeyer</a> said</li> - </ul> - </li> - <li>Page 124</li> - <li> - <ul> - <li>Satan burst our laughing <em>changed to</em><br /> - Satan burst <a href="#out">out</a> laughing</li> - </ul> - </li> - </ul> -</div> - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mysterious Stranger, by Mark Twain - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGER *** - -***** This file should be named 50109-h.htm or 50109-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/0/1/0/50109/ - -Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images -generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian -Libraries) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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