Part 40 (2/2)
The book was a Bible.
Then Doctor Herode's tone became softer. ”His wish was to render a service to Mess Lethierry, whom he respected much. As his pastor, it was his right and duty to offer counsel. Mess Lethierry, however, was free.”
Mess Lethierry, plunged once more in his overwhelming absorption, no longer listened. Deruchette, seated near him, and thoughtful, also did not raise her eyes, and by her silent presence somewhat increased the embarra.s.sment of a conversation not very animated. A witness who says nothing is a species of indefinable weight. Doctor Herode, however, did not appear to feel it.
Lethierry no longer replying, Doctor Herode expatiated freely. Counsel is from man; inspiration is from G.o.d. In the counsels of the priests there is inspiration. It is good to accept, dangerous to refuse them.
Sochoh was seized by eleven devils for disdaining the exhortations of Nathaniel. Tiburia.n.u.s was struck with a leprosy for having driven from his house the Apostle Andrew. Barjesus, a magician though he was, was punished with blindness for having mocked at the words of St. Paul.
Elxai and his sisters, Martha and Martena, are in eternal torments for despising the warnings of Valentia.n.u.s, who proved to them clearly that their Jesus Christ, thirty-eight leagues in height, was a demon.
Aholibamah, who is also called Judith, obeyed the Councils, Reuben and Peniel listened to the counsels from on high, as their names indeed indicate. Reuben signifies son of the vision; and Peniel, ”the face of G.o.d.”:
Mess Lethierry struck the table with his fist.
”Parbleu!” he cried; ”it was my fault.”
”What do you mean?” asked M. Jaquemin Herode.
”I say that it is my fault.”
”Your fault? Why?”
”Because I allowed the Durande to return on Fridays.”
M. Jaquemin Herode whispered in Caudray's ear:
”This man is superst.i.tious.”
He resumed, raising his voice, and in a didactic tone:
”Mess Lethierry, it is puerile to believe in Fridays. You ought not to put faith in fables. Friday is a day just like any other. It is very often a propitious day. Melendez founded the city of Saint Augustin on a Friday; it was on a Friday that Henry the Seventh gave his commission to John Cabot; the Pilgrims of the _Mayflower_ landed at Province Town on a Friday. Was.h.i.+ngton was born on Friday, the 22nd of February 1732; Christopher Columbus discovered America on Friday, the 12th of October 1492.”
Having delivered himself of these remarks, he rose.
Caudray, whom he had brought with him, rose also.
Grace and Douce, perceiving that the two clergymen were about to take their leave, opened the folding-doors.
Mess Lethierry saw nothing; heard nothing.
M. Jaquemin Herode said, apart to M. Caudray:
”He does not even salute us. This is not sorrow; it is vacancy. He must have lost his reason.”
He took his little Bible, however, from the table, and held it between his hands outstretched, as one holds a bird in fear that it may fly away. This att.i.tude awakened among the persons present a certain amount of attention. Grace and Douce leaned forward eagerly.
His voice a.s.sumed all the solemnity of which it was capable.
”Mess Lethierry,” he began, ”let us not part without reading a page of the Holy Book. It is from books that wise men derive consolation in the troubles of life. The profane have their oracles; but believers have their ready resource in the Bible. The first book which comes to hand, opened by chance may afford counsel; but the Bible, opened at any page, yields a revelation. It is, above all, a boon to the afflicted. Yes, Holy Scripture is an unfailing balm for their wounds. In the presence of affliction, it is good to consult its sacred pages--to open even without choosing the place, and to read with faith the pa.s.sage which we find.
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