so much which his mother sometimes went to, and
in which he had also been.

That longing, which had clung to him ever since like a fairy tale,
now came over him forcibly and vividly. Yes, it was beautiful to be
able to kneel like that before the Holy Virgin, who was lovelier than
all women on earth, and hardly had you laid your request
before her when its fulfilment was insured. Splendid!

"Hail Mary!" Cilia's prayer began like that. He did not know any
more, but he repeated the words many times. And now he smelt the
incense again, which had filled the whole church with perfume, heard
again the little bell announcing the transubstantiation, saw the Lord's
anointed with the splendid stole over his chasuble bow first to the
left of the altar, then to the right. Oh, how he envied the boys in
their white surplices, who were allowed to kneel near him. Blessed
harmonies floated under the high, arched dome:

"Procedenti ab utroque
Compar sit laudatio----"

They had sung something like that. And then the priest had raised
the gleaming monstrance on high, and all the people had bowed deeply:
_Qui vivis et regnas in saecula saeculorum._ Yes, he had remembered
_that_ Latin well. He would never forget it all his life.

Cilia had had to nudge him and whisper: "Come, we're going now,"
otherwise he would have remained kneeling much longer in the
magnificent and still cosy church, in which nothing was cold and
strange.

If only he could go there again. Cilia had certainly promised to
take him if she found an opportunity--but now she was to go away, and
the opportunity would never come. What a pity. He was filled with a
great regret and defiance at the same time; no, he would not go to the
church his mother went to, and where the boys from his school went.

And he whispered again, "Hail, Mary!" and the hot and angry tears
that had been running down his cheeks ceased as he whispered it.

He had climbed out of his bed, and was kneeling by the side of it on
the carpet, his clasped hands raised in prayer, as he had seen
the angels do in the altar-piece. His eyes sparkled and were wide open,
his defiance melted into fervour.

When he at last got into bed again, and his excessive fatigue had
calmed his agitation and he had fallen asleep, he dreamt of the
beautiful Virgin Mary, whose features were well known to him, and he
felt his heart burn for her.

* * * * * * * * * * * *