THE PENITENT.
Father, mother and son proceeded downstairs to the room on the ground
floor where the distressing scene of the night before was enacted.
Hardly had they touched the lowermost step of the staircase when Herve
threw himself upon his knees, took his father's hands, kissed them
tearfully and murmured in a smothered voice:
"I beg your pardon--for my past conduct--pardon me--my good parents!"
"God be praised! We were not deceived in the boy," was the thought that
rushed to the minds of Christian and Bridget as they exchanged a look of
profound satisfaction. "The unfortunate lad has been touched by
repentance."
"My son," said the artisan, "rise."
"No, not before I have obtained from you and my mother forgiveness for
my infamous act;" and he added, amid sobs: "It was myself, I, your
son--it was I who stole your gold!"
"Herve," replied Christian, deeply moved by the manifestations of
remorse which he took to be sincere, "last night, in this same room,
your mother and I said to you: 'If you forgot yourself for a moment and
committed the theft, admit it--you will be forgiven.'"
"And we shall gladly keep our promise," added Bridget. "We pardon you,
seeing that you repent. Rise."
"Oh, never more so than at this moment am I penetrated with the
unworthiness of my conduct. Good God! So much kindness on your part, and
so much baseness on mine! My whole life shall be consecrated to the
atonement of my infamy!" said Herve, rising from the floor.
"I shall not conceal it from you, my boy," proceeded Christian with
paternal kindness. "I was quite prepared for this admission of your
guilt. Certain happy symptoms that your mother and myself noticed
to-day, led us to expect your return to the right path, to the
principles of honesty in which we brought you up."
"Did I not tell you so, yesterday?" broke in Bridget. "Could our son
really become unworthy of our tenderness, unworthy of the example that
we set to him, as well as to his sister and brother? No; no; we will
regain him; he will see the error of his ways. So you see, dear, dear
boy," she added embracing him effusively, "I knew you better than you
knew yourself! Blessed be God for your return to the path of
righteousness!"
The consummate hypocrite threw himself upon his mother's neck, and
answering her caresses with feigned affection, said in a moved voice:
"Good father, good mother, the confession of my shameful act earned your
pardon for me. Later I hope your esteem for me may return, when you will
have been able to judge of the sincerity of my remorse. Let me tell you
the cause of my repentance, the suddenness of which may astonish you."
"A sweet astonishment, thanks be to God. Speak, speak, my son!"
"You surmised rightly, father. Yes, led astray, corrupted by the counsel
of Fra Girard, I pilfered your money for the purpose of consecrating it
to works that I took to be pious."
"Ah, it is with pride both for us and yourself that I say it," cried
Bridget; "never once, while we suspected you, did we believe you capable
of the guilty act out of love for gold, out of a craving for selfish
enjoyment, or out of cupidity! No, a thousand times no!"
"Thanks! Oh, thanks, good mother, to do me at least that justice, or,
rather, to do it to the bringing up that I owe you! No; the fruit of my
larceny has not been dissipated in prodigality. No; I did not keep it
like a miser, out of love for gold. The gold pieces were all thrown into
the chest of the Apostolic Commissioner of indulgences, for the purpose
of obtaining the redemption of the souls in purgatory."
"I believe you, my son. The charitable and generous side of that
idolatry, that is so profitable to the cupidity of the Church of Rome,
must have had its fascination for your heart. But how did you discover
the fraud of that monastic traffic? Explain that to me."
"This morning, after I deposited my offering in the chest of indulgences
that was set up in the Church of St. Dominic, I heard the Apostolic
Commissioner preach. Oh, father, all the still lingering sentiments of
honor within me revolted at his words. My eyes were suddenly opened; I
fathomed the depth of the abyss that blind fanaticism leads to. Do you
know what that monk, who claimed to speak in the name of the Almighty,
dared to say to the mass of people gathered in the church? 'The virtue
of my indulgences is so efficacious,' the monk cried out, 'so very
efficacious, that, even if it were possible for any man to have raped
the mother of our Savior, that crime without name would be remitted to
him by the virtue of my indulgences. So, then, buy them, my brothers!
Bring, bring your money! Rummage in your purses, rummage'--"
Christian and his wife listened to their son's tale in silent affright.
The sacrilegious words which the lad reported to them caused them to
shiver with horror and their own horror explained to them the repentance
and remorse of Herve.
"Oh, I now see it all, my child!" cried Christian. "The sacrilegious
monstrosity was a revelation to you! It shocked you back to your senses!
Yes, your eyes were suddenly opened to the light; you conceived a horror
for those infamous priests; you recoiled with dread from the fatal slope
down which superstition was driving you!"
"Yes, father, the monstrous thought was a revelation to me; the veil was
torn; I regained my sight. I was to be either the dupe or the accomplice
of these abominable frauds. Disgust and indignation recalled me to
myself. It was to me as if I awoke from a painful dream. When I
recalled that, for several months, I had been dominated by the influence
of Fra Girard, I cursed the detestable charm under which the man had
held me captive, and which was alienating me from a cherished, a
venerated family. I cursed the devilish sophisms, which, exactly as you
expressed it, father, were corrupting in my mind the most elemental
principles of right and wrong, and led me to the commission of a theft,
an act that was doubly infamous seeing that it was perpetrated under the
trusting security of the paternal roof! Oh, mother, in the measure that
I thus regained the possession of my soul, overwhelmed with shame as I
was, and torn with remorse, I felt there was but one way of
safety--repentance! Only one hope--your pardon! Only one refuge--your
love. I have returned to you, beloved parents."
Christian and Bridget could not suspect their son's sincerity. They
reposed faith in his repentance, in the return of his filial devotion,
in the horror that the past inspired him with. Father and mother
devoutly rendered thanks to God for having restored their son to them.
When the two closed their eyes in sleep that night their last thought
concerned their son Herve--alas, a treacherous happiness.