CHAPTER XII.

Paul lay in the still dark torture-chamber in a senseless stupor. In spite of his uncomfortable position his wearied head sank on the beam blackened with age and stained with blood, and he remained in an almost half sleeping half fainting state. His ear however heard the song of the heavenly hosts, and his soul was filled with joy at suffering and atoning for the many wrongs which he had caused. By degrees his fantastic thoughts a.s.sumed a more distinctive connection and he determined to avail himself of any examination, either before the judges or on the rack, to aid in the liberation of Erastus and of his daughter. It was good for him to be here. He must now be heard. To cause him to disappear without leaving traces, was even beyond Pigavetta's power. The most terrible tortures would be the most welcome, if he could but say to himself afterwards: "Thou hast atoned, thou art forgiven." His fantastic stupor was about to change into a veritable slumber, when he was startled by a long drawn sigh proceeding from the rack. He looked up and saw the wearied eyes of old Sibylla fixed on him.

"You are not dead yet, Mother," he said gently and kindly to the witch.

"So in reality it is you," replied the old woman in a husky tone. "They have tortured me so severely that I thought I was out of my senses, and saw only what I wished. For I wished to see you, wished cursingly to see you, and now I am too weary, too weak to rejoice thereat. Ah!" and again a deep sigh re-echoed through the gloomy silent chamber.

"Why did you so desire to see me?" asked Paul.

Again the witch fixed him with her gla.s.sy dead eyes. Then choked the words out. "Did you not lead them; who bade you cut off an old woman's escape?"

"Why did you sell yourself to the Devil?"

"There is no Devil," said the old woman indifferently.

"No Devil?" cried out the priest. "You ought best to know that one exists, you who have so often attended the fearful revels on the Kreuzweg."

"For thirty years have I sat on the Holtermann and by the Linsenteich, and crept at midnight into the Jettenhohle, and have muttered all the incantations taught me by my parents, but all remained still. Lately I thought to see him, but it was only the miller's boy at his tricks."

"And you never went out there, to drink and to dance with the fiends, and to wh.o.r.e with the Devil?"

"If I could do that would I be lying here?" said the old witch in a tone of contempt. "I spake all the curses that are known. 'Here I stand on the dung and deny Jesus Christ.' I sang his own song: 'Come, Come, Satan, jump here, jump there, hop here, hop there, play here, play there,' or 'Come out, come on, touch nowhere on, Hie up and out.' But none availed. I have prayed to the Devil, and enticed the elves, but nothing moved; it is all nonsense."

"Why did you not rather pray to G.o.d?"

"There is no G.o.d," said the old woman in the same apathetic tone.

"You blaspheme," said Paul angrily. "You will soon see, when they stretch the fair Lydia out here, and scourge her with ropes, and burn her with sulphur, whether He helps. And Erastus, and Xylander, and the daughter of Pithopous, and Probus' wife, and Probus himself."

"What! have you named them all?"

"They are as guilty as I am. At first I remained silent and would not answer, but they held my nose closed, so that I had to open my mouth to breathe. Then they shoved an iron pear with a spring into my mouth, which distended my jaws. I thought I should choke to death. One learns to speak then."

"But what made you mention those names?"

"Well the gentlemen kept asking me questions one after the other, and I thought they would torture me less if I said yes. I heard the Italian with the yellow face say: 'notorious heretics may always be presumed to be magicians,' and then they said 'Probus' yes, no, 'Xylander,'

'Pithopous,' no, not he, 'Erastus' and thus I snapped up the names. It hurts to hang thus, and they kept putting on heavier weights to my legs. You will find out how it hurts when they wrench the joints out of their sockets. At length I noticed that they kept on as long as I gave any answer, so at last I was silent and kept my eyes fixed on the parson with the greenish hue. That was too much for him, so he left.

But the Italian was the worst, he ordered me to be stretched out here and sulphur threads to be placed under my arms and round my fingers and then to be lit, till I confessed that Erastus had also danced on the Holtermann and sprung over the he-goat Devil. Then they went on with the torture of blows till I pretended to die. Old women are tough. We have little blood and require little, therefore it lasted longer. My grandmother was tortured for thirteen days." The old woman's speech became more and more indistinct. It seemed as if she were talking to herself, her narration became so jerky, at one time unintelligible, at another scarcely audible. She kept murmuring about her experiences, how often she had sought after the Devil and never found him, sometimes chuckling and grinning to herself. Then she said as if in excuse, that people only required the magic wares, which were prepared at the right time and at the right place. She would not cheat her customers. If they paid a good price it was her duty to give them the veritable article, otherwise anybody would be selling their trash. Her talk became more and more confused and jumbled. Paul could not tell whether she had become insane, or was in possession of her senses. He shuddered. Then her murmurs changed into a rattle, her broken body was shaken with severe quiverings, one more shiver and then it was over. The herb picker of the Kreuzgrund was this time in reality a corpse.

For many hours Paul sat on the block alone, his limbs began to swell up. A violent pain in his head and an unendurable thirst tortured him, but he laid his head on the beam sticky with the sweat and blood of his numerous predecessors of both s.e.xes, and repined not. Towards evening he was startled from his fainting condition by the creaking of the door. As he looked up, Pigavetta stood before him.

"Magister," said the Italian, "I hope you have thought over the foolish way you acted this morning. Let this disagreeable day replace the _exercitia_ which I should have had to impose on you for a few weeks, and let us calmly discuss how to get you out of this dangerous situation."

Paul remained silent, and did not raise his head from the block.

"You are to be tried to-morrow before the Commission," continued Pigavetta. "I will spare you the necessity of appearing as Erastus'

prosecutor, as you seem to be in a secretive mood. You must however testify, with as far as I am concerned the necessary mental reservation, if that quiets your conscience, that Erastus has often spoken to you in private as if he were tainted with Unitarianism, has denied the Holy Trinity, and praised the works of Servetus and Blandrata. You know as well as I do that he is in reality a heretic, deserving therefore of any punishment. As to your silly a.s.signation with his daughter you have only to say, that you wished to prove to your satisfaction, whether she in reality did go at suspicious hours to the Kreuzweg, as had been reported to you. It is lucky that your presence at Speyer on that very evening can be proved. The Rector will testify that you were with him at ten o'clock. Do you consent? Answer!"

"Erastus has never stated to me that he was an Arian," answered the prisoner shortly.

"That is a matter of indifference," said Pigavetta impatiently. "You know how many Doctors of our order permit the probable to be sworn to as the veritable, if by so doing the greater evil can be avoided, of permitting a culprit to escape unpunished, and to continue raging against the Church."

"I know that it is written: 'Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour,'" replied Paul in a quiet voice.

"Childishness," cried Pigavetta angrily. "I charge you _in obedientia majoris_, to testify to this statement. You have nothing to do with the responsibility, I take that on myself."

"The pangs of conscience which I have suffered, have not been borne for me by any superior;" said Paul in a tone of mild reproof. "I have felt, that if a man carries h.e.l.l in his own heart, all the blessings of the Church cannot bring back his peace of mind. I cannot live with a threefold or tenfold murder on my conscience. No Priest's absolution would drive away the shades of Erastus or Lydia from my couch."

"You are in love," rejoined Pigavetta mockingly.

Paul kept silence.

"In that case I can help you," continued Pigavetta in an easy tone. "I shall cause Lydia to be brought here, then you can have it all your own way. Witches' trials often last for years, and here you have plenty of elbow room. She will not be the first who was tamed in the witches'

chamber."

"Satan," answered Paul shuddering.

"Hear me, young fop," hissed Pigavetta, "my patience is now at an end.

You know what the consequences of your disobedience will be. What the judges will do with your bones I will not speak of, that is your affair and theirs. But what we shall do, that I can tell you. The order expels you, and do not believe that you will ever again find peace on earth.

The sort of man you are, lies depicted in the archives of the Society, depicted by your own hand. Wherever you may seek shelter, service, position, fortune, your own confessions will testify against you."

Paul raised his head smiling: "That is all over, my good Sir, trouble yourself no longer, those bands are cut asunder. Since I no longer wish to pa.s.s off for a saint you can relate my sins to everyone. What was it that used formerly to terrify me? My childish confessions! Tell the gentlemen in Venice that since through you I have blood on my conscience, the ink in which my weekly confessions were written has paled, they can cause them to be printed if it so pleases them, and I will relate in addition the services which under your guidance I have rendered to the Church."

"The Church expels you, accursed one."

"I have been expelled ever since I followed you," sighed Paul. "Since then I carry h.e.l.l within me, and I now know that no priestly absolution inscribes me in the book of life, should I not be there, and no Priest blots out my name, once entered therein by the Grace of G.o.d."

"Thus is it with you!" said Pigavetta. "Have you also turned heretic?

If the Holy Church is no longer anything to you, look at this corpse.

Do you wish to end your days thus tortured?"

"My inward agonies," continued Paul inclining his head towards his heart, "will become less if you add to them the external sufferings of fire and steel. Spare your words, I have surrendered myself entirely to G.o.d's mercy."

"Heretic," hissed Pigavetta. Paolo remained silent. The old Jesuit sought some other argument by which he could convince the young fool, but at that moment steps resounded outside. The length of the conference appeared suspicious to Master Ulrich and he stuck his head in at the door. Pigavetta turned to leave. "If the grounds do not appear obvious to you, this worthy gentleman will set you on the right track by means of thumbscrews and Spanish boots."

"We'll twist him about so that the sun will shine through him," said the executioner grinning. The door closed and Paul remained alone in his agonizing posture.

CHAPTER XIII.

A religious discussion was being held in the new court of the Castle.

The Rector of the University, two Professors of theology and two Jurists had entered into the Kurfurst's study to consult as to the advisability of receiving Erastus again as Church Counsellor and of repealing the sentence of excommunication. After some time Erastus himself was led out of his prison across the court. A deep-blue September sky looked down on the beauteous square surrounded by palaces. The lindens on the Bastion were already turning yellow, the asters bloomed in the beds surrounding the spring, the sparrows were besporting themselves in the trellis-work, and were fighting over the ripening grapes. Erastus gazed long and joyously about him and drew in long thirsty draughts the first delicious breath of freedom. Then he cast an astonished look at the "new building," which owing to Felix's art had attained a beauty which it had never possessed before. "A worthy man," he said commendingly, "in spite of his brother." He then calmly ascended the well-known staircase leading to the chambers of his sovereign, where the discussion was to take place. Herr Bachmann stepped up respectfully to the liberated court physician, Erastus however held out his hand to the porter in his usual friendly manner.

Within the discussion was carried on long and eagerly, and Herr Bachmann tired of standing sat down with a sigh on a bench, saying: "It will be well when the old Counsellors once more meet together. The new always remain three times as long," and he dozed off. The good fellow was able to enjoy his nap thoroughly and then return to his waking condition with a feeling of comfort, which is ever the best part of an afternoon snooze. That day he had plenty of time to render his limbs supple by pacing up and down, for the members did not seem to be able to come to any decision. At last chairs and tables were pushed aside.