After a short pause he came slowly to the head of the boy's bed. Very
solemnly he touched the foot of the Christ on the cross with the tips of
his fingers, and brought them to his lips with an indescribable
reverence. After a moment, standing with eyes fixed on the face of the
crucified figure, he said, in a shaking voice:
"_Pardon, bon Jesu! Sauves mon enfant! Ne me laissez pas seul!_"
The boy looked up with eyes again grown unnaturally heavy, and said:
"Amen!... _Bon Jesu!... Encore! Encore, mon pere!_"
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
V
The boy slept. The father stood still by the bed for a time, but at last
slowly turned and went toward the fire.
Outside, two figures were approaching the hut--a man and a woman; yet at
first glance the man might easily have been taken for a woman, because
of his clean-shaven face, of the long black robe which he wore, and
because his hair fell loose on his shoulders.
"Have patience, my daughter," said the man. "Do not enter till I call
you. But stand close to the door, if you will, and hear all."
So saying he raised his hand as in a kind of benediction, passed to the
door, and, after tapping very softly, opened it, entered, and closed it
behind him--not so quickly, however, but that the woman caught a glimpse
of the father and the boy. In her eyes there was the divine look of
motherhood.
"Peace be to this house!" said the man gently, as he stepped forward
from the door.
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