The room into which Father Raphael led her was very bare. There was a
clock on the deal mantelpiece, some plain rush-seated deal chairs
stained brown, a deal table covered with a cheap cloth stamped in red
and black. On a little shrine in one corner stood a plaster statue of
the Virgin as the Mater Misericordiae, with her hands extended in
compassion. A nosegay of white geraniums in a thick glass was placed
before it.
The priest sat down on one side of the table, and motioned Sophy to a
chair opposite. He waited, looking away from her out of the small window
that framed a hideous "back yard," until she had somewhat mastered
herself. Then he said in his tranquil, tender voice:
"Do not be afraid to speak, my daughter. This place is sacred to The
Mother who suffered most. Where there has been most suffering, there is
most understanding."
Sophy lifted her eyes to his.
"I ought to tell you, Father, that I am not a Roman Catholic," she said,
under her breath. The grave cordiality of his look did not abate.
"All who are in trouble are welcome here," he said gently. But she
noticed that after that he said "My child," when speaking to her,
instead of "My daughter."
Then, little by little, she told him everything. When she had ended, he
sat for some moments, musing. He had a plain, rugged face, but the eyes,
clear and brown, held an expression of the most exquisite comprehension
and love--that love which is so wholly of the spirit yet so warm towards
the sorrows and needs of humanity that, feeling its power, one can
realise how, after looking into eyes like these yet far more wonderful,
the great golden Harlot of Magdala cast away her lovers and her jewels,
and spread her beautiful hair as a serving-cloth about the sacred feet
her tears had washed.
"It is true, my child," said Father Raphael at last, and he smiled
tenderly upon her, "that the human heart is deceitful above all things
and desperately wicked--and sometimes it deceives even in regard to its
own wickedness. Your heart has deceived you, my child."
"How?" asked Sophy, in a low voice. An inward tremor had seized her. Her
voice shook.
"It has deceived you into thinking that you wish your husband's death.
You do not wish that. Look deeper into this deceitful heart of yours,
and you will see that you do not. Why did you go to that doctor? Why
have you come here to me?"
"I ... I needed ... help, Father."
"Just so, my child. You needed help to see the true inwardness of your
spirit. You mistook natural indignation and the recoil of pain for the
sin of actual desire. You wished to escape--to be free--and so you
thought that you wished your husband's death. But you do not wish it."
"I ... I think ... I am afraid I do, Father."
Her voice was touchingly humble, like a child's voice confessing what it
deems a terrible crime with courageous obstinacy.
"No, my child. Think. Could you now--here--by sending forth a sharp
thought like a dagger--kill your husband--would you send forth that
thought?"
Her brow knitted painfully. She went white as death. Then the blood
surged over her face.
"No, Father," she whispered.
"You see, my child? What you craved when you sought me was for another
voice, the voice of a human being like yourself, to echo the small,
still voice down in the centre of your own spirit. The voice that says
we must have the courage to live life as we have made it for
ourselves--honestly, righteously, unflinchingly. You must not be too
severe with yourself, my child. To deny the hidden good in ourselves is
the subtlest form of spiritual pride. It gives death, not life. There
was a great Pagan who once uttered a profoundly Christian truth.
Wolfgang von Goethe said: 'Life teaches us to be less hard with others
and--ourselves.' Do you see what I mean, my child?"
"Yes," said Sophy, in that smothered voice.
"Then what you must do is very simple. First, you must forgive your
husband--then you must forgive yourself. After what you have told me, I
can see no salvation for him from this sad vice but in your affection
and your strong will to help him. Consult with this wise doctor--follow
his instructions as best you may. Take your life, your heart, in both
hands and lift them up unto the Lord."
"You don't know, Father ... you can't know...." She shuddered violently.
Her grey eyes were fixed on his in desperate appeal.
"Yes, my child-- I do know," he said tenderly. "I led the life of an
ordinary man before I became a priest. I know well what you are
suffering--what lies before you--for you have courage--you will
not--desert." He said it firmly, but his kind eyes held her, full of the
comprehending compassion that does not wound.
Then Sophy gave a cry--the cry of a child who says: "I wish I were
dead!" She put up her hands to her face and sobbed out:
"Oh, I wish I could be a nun ... a nun!"
Very tenderly Father Raphael sat smiling down at her bowed head. Often
had he listened to this cry--the cry of those who in a moment of
extremity long for a cool refuge from the hot brawls of life. Then he
said softly:
"You would make a most unhappy nun, my child."
In a small, ashamed voice she asked:
"Why do you say so, Father?"
"For many reasons. You have heard the expression, 'vocation,' have you
not?"
"Yes, Father."
"You have been given brilliant gifts, great beauty, a little child----
There lies your 'vocation.' To live in the world yet not of it, that is
the life to which God has called you."
"Oh, Father! You do not know me. Christ said: 'Blessed are the poor in
spirit.' I am very proud, Father--horribly, wrongly proud."
The priest did not answer her directly. He said in a musing tone:
"I have often thought how that saying of Our Lord's has been
misinterpreted. By 'poor in spirit' surely He did not mean poverty of
spirit, but that to be truly poor--that is, detached from the things of
this world--a man must not only give up those things themselves, but
give up even the desire for them. That is how I understand the saying,
'Blessed are the poor in spirit.'"
"But, Father--to go back--to be his wife--after---- Oh, it is not only
that--but in one of his furies he might kill me--he might kill my little
son! You don't know--you can't imagine what he is like then----"
"God does not ask impossibilities from His children," said Father
Raphael firmly. "'He is faithful that promised. With the temptation He
will also make a way of escape.' Should you fail to save your husband
from this fatal habit--should your life, or your son's life, be in
danger, then your duty would be to save yourself. The commandment is not
'Thou shalt love thy neighbor better than thyself'--but 'as thyself.'"
"And are people ever really saved from opium or morphine, Father?"
"Yes, my child. One of the best men that I know--a fellow worker with me
here--was a morphinomaniac."
"How was he saved, Father?"
"By God's mercy and his own desire to be saved."
"Ah, Father--that is just it! Will he--will my husband desire to be
saved? Will he let me help him?"
"The effort must be yours--the result is with God. If, after you have
honestly tried by every means in your power--and failed--then--I, a
Roman Catholic priest, to whom marriage is a sacrament, say to you: 'Go
home to your own land and your own kinsfolk.'"
He spoke solemnly. His face looked stern for the first time.
Sophy rose. Her spirit was stilled, but her body felt as though it had
been beaten with staves. Every bone and nerve ached dully. The priest
rose too. She looked at him timidly:
"Can you give me your blessing, Father?"
His lovely smile melted the stern look. Instinctively she knelt, and he
stretched out his hands, making the sign of the cross in the air above
her bent head.
"_Benedicat te omnipotens Deus, Pater et Filius et Spiritus Sanctus._
Amen."
The grave Latin words of benediction rolled solemnly over her. Her
spirit felt folded in a soothing peace. She rose, trembling a little.
"I wish I could thank you ... as I want to, Father," she whispered.
"Thank God, my child. He sent you to me."
"Yes. I believe that."
"Would it help you to come here sometimes, to this simple house
dedicated to the Mother of Compassion?"
"Yes, Father; but...."
"Would your husband be displeased if he knew that you came?"
"Yes, Father. He hates the Catholic religion."
"Then do not come, my child. But remember that I am here if you need me.
My prayers will follow you. I will have a _Novena_ for you. Be of good
courage."
Sophy gazed at him. The tears gathered again. She could not speak. Going
out silently, she got into the musty cab.
She remembered nothing of the drive home. Her eyes were turned inward.