The Woman and the Priest

ast, and put his hat on the chair beside him, and while his

take that

wards the kitchen for f

here?" as

ioch

ng the boy was before him, cap in hand, s

e church and get everything ready for taki

no longer angry and was not going to dism

have you had a

thing to eat; he never

Paul, "you must eat. Mot

est was speaking to him in a way different from usual; he could not explain how or why, he only felt there was a difference. He looked up in Paul's face as though he saw him for the first time,

t is time to set to work seriously with Latin; and I

the trees could be seen waving against the clear sky, and his thoughts were evidently far away. Antiochus felt again as if he had been dismissed and his spirits fell; he brushed the crumbs from the tablecloth, folded his nap

t immediately, but before going to the church he ran round to his mother to w

e confessed to him that he shunned the company of men because "they are evil itself," and men in mockery had called him King, as they had called Christ King of the Jews. But Paul was not interested in the old man's confession; his thoughts turned rather to Antiochus and his father and mother, for he meant to ask the latter whether they conscientiously realized wha

r had been delivered; what more was there for him to know? The stone of the sepulchre had been rolled i

-tap of the stone-breaker by the roadside. It seemed like the end of the world, as though the last habitation of living men was this little white room, with its time-blackened furniture and its

in any way different from other days, but his mother would rather he had gone up to his room as was his custom and shut the door. And why, since he was sitting there, did he

r into her own hand. She was alread

d, without raising his

er even than the will of her son. She cleared her throat and fixed her eyes on the little Japanese landscape painted

he looked at me, but still she did not open it. I said 'There is no answer,' and turned to go away, but she said, 'Wait.' Then she opened the l

lood slowly came back into his face and she breathed again with relief. Such moments as these were terrible, but they must be met bravely and overcome. She opened her lips to say something else, to murmur at least, "See what

refuse to hear another word on this matter, otherwise I shal

on the table and leaned against the corner of the fireplace, utterly broken down. She knew now he had gone away for ever; even if he came back he would no longer be her

ht before. He crossed the meadow without any definite aim, feeling as though he were some inanimate thing flung bodily against the wall of Agnes's house and thrown back by the rebound as far as the square before the church, where the old men and the boys and the beggars sit on the low parapet all day long. Scarce knowing how he had come there, Paul stayed a little while talking to one or

rural guardia, half-keeper, half-police, who had charge of the village also, the only public functionary in the place, came strolling along the road with his great dog on a leash. He wore a mixed costume, the hunter's jacket of discoloured velvet with the blue, red-striped trousers of his official uniform, and his dog was a huge black and red animal

f the priest and gave a milit

, which was exceeding his duty, but gave him importance in his own eyes, as he imagined he was thus taking the place of the doctor who only came to the village twice a week.) "But I said, 'Gently, my girl; in my humble opinion he does not want quinine, but another sort of medicine.' The girl began to cry, but she shed no tears; may I

ut Paul was looking at the dog, now quiet and docile a

said aloud, but in an absent-minded way, "Oh yes, he can wait till

arent indifference, "a man had better go for the doctor at once. The old fellow can pay, he is not a pauper. B

the Communion first

k person may receive the Communi

did not want the medicine; he clenched his teeth, and he has them al

I were a servant! It was not a question of an accident or anything requiring the doctor's official presence, and I have other things to do. I must now go down to t

master's repressed contempt, the animal stalked off waving its ferocious tail; it did not growl at t

la with gold fringe open over Paul's head, so that he and his silver amphora were in shadow whilst the boy himself appeared the more brilliant in the sunshine in contrast to the black and white figure of the priest. Antiochus's face wore a look of almost tragic gravity, for he was much impressed with his own importance and imagined himself specially deputed to protect the holy oil. Nevertheless this did not prevent him from grinning with amusement at the sight

elt beside it. And the priest grew pale, for he recognized one of Agnes's servants, and a nameless dread seized upo

and the priest knew that the old man was lying fully dressed on a mat in the lower room; so he entered at once, reciting the prayers for the sick, whilst Antiochus closed the umbrella and rang his bell loudly to drive away the children as if they were flies. But the room was empty and the mat unoccupied; perhaps the old m

pty mat and gave a scream, and the inquisitive boys immediately swarmed over the wall and round the door, engagin

eupon one of the boys, the last to join the crowd, sauntered up with his hands in hi

n wh

he boy, pointing with hi

umbrella and gravely and in silence the two returned to the church, whilst the villagers gathered toget