re, upon the wall of his study, was the ruddy splotch where
it struck and broke. But it was Father Peter, the other priest, that
we all loved best and were sorriest for. Some people charged him with
talking around in conversation that God was all goodness and would find
a way to save all his poor human children. It was a horrible thing to
say, but there was never any absolute proof that Father Peter said it;
and it was out of character for him to say it, too, for he was always
good and gentle and truthful. He wasn't charged with saying it in the
pulpit, where all the congregation could hear and testify, but only
outside, in talk; and it is easy for enemies to manufacture that. Father
Peter had an enemy and a very powerful one, the astrologer who lived in
a tumbled old tower up the valley, and put in his nights studying the
stars. Every one knew he could foretell wars and famines, though that
was not so hard, for there was always a war, and generally a famine
somewhere. But he could also read any man's life through the stars in
a big book he had, and find lost property, and every one in the village
except Father Peter stood in awe of him. Even Father Adolf, who had
defied the Devil, had a wholesome respect for the astrologer when he
came through our village wearing his tall, pointed hat and his long,
flowing robe with stars on it, carrying his big book, and a staff which
was known to have magic power. The bishop himself sometimes listened
to the astrologer, it was said, for, besides studying the stars and
prophesying, the astrologer made a great show of piety, which would
impress the bishop, of course.
But Father Peter took no stock in the astrologer. He denounced him
openly as a charlatan--a fraud with no valuable knowledge of any kind,
or powers beyond those of an ordinary and rather inferior human being,
which naturally made the astrologer hate Father Peter and wish to ruin
him. It was the astrologer, as we all believed, who originated the story
about Father Peter's shocking remark and carried it to the bishop. It
was said that Father Peter had made the remark to his niece, Marget,
though Marget denied it and implored the bishop to believe her and spare
her old uncle from poverty and disgrace. But the bishop wouldn't listen.
He suspended Father Peter indefinitely, though he wouldn't go so far as
to excommunicate him on the evidence of only one witness; and now Father
Peter had been out a couple of years, and our other
|