"
"I understand you not, father," said Halbert, struck by the solemn tone
which was assumed by his companion.
The old man proceeded. "Thou hast slain thine enemy--it was a cruel
deed: thou hast cut him off perchance in his sins--it is a fearful
aggravation. Do yet by my counsel, and in lieu of him whom thou hast
perchance consigned to the kingdom of Satan, let thine efforts wrest
another subject from the reign of the Evil One."
"I understand you, father," said Halbert; "thou wouldst have me atone
for my rashness by doing service to the soul of my adversary--But how
may this be? I have no money to purchase masses, and gladly would I
go barefoot to the Holy Land to free his spirit from purgatory, only
that--"
"My son," said the old man, interrupting him, "the sinner for whose
redemption I entreat you to labour, is not the dead but the living. It
is not for the soul of thine enemy I would exhort thee to pray--that
has already had its final doom from a Judge as merciful as he is just;
nor, wert thou to coin that rock into ducats, and obtain a mass for
each one, would it avail the departed spirit. Where the tree hath
fallen, it must lie. But the sapling, which hath in it yet the vigour
and juice of life, may be bended to the point to which it ought to
incline."
"Art thou a priest, father?" said the young man, "or by what commission
dost thou talk of such high matters?"
"By that of my Almighty Master," said the traveller, "under whose
banner I am an enlisted soldier.
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