Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1889-08-03


! abandon my hope of heaven. But thou
wilt avenge thyself, when; Peter Petro-
witch, tell me, wheny"
"Dost thou wish me-" resumed the
priest, 'sto fire at him from ambuscade.
like bandit of the mountains?-to kill
from hidden lair? No, win not do it.
If it is the will of God that become the
instrument of his vengeance, he will
put him in my way"
Several months had passed since this
interviews between Peter Petrowitch and
his brothers wife, and the fate of the
Resurrection was near at hand, day
when the Montenegrin law commanded
a remuneration of all surveillance upon
criminals, great or small, in order that
the mountain brigands should descend
into the villages to partakc of Easter COM
munion.
Dimitri Jegosch-the priest reflected
would doubtless be able to make prelim-
mary confession to some mountain her
NIT, but under pain of mortal sin was
bound to come into his parish church to
finish his communion.
L
must await himv'
And on the morning of the fete, before
the opening Of the high mass, and while
the building was still silent and empty,
he approached the main altar and hid
under the folds of its cloth something
which was long and heavy and which he
had carried beneath his cassock. The
sacristan, busy with the lighting of his
tapers, had seen neither the coming nor
the going of the priest, as he TRANQUILITY
returned to don his sacerdotal vestments.
When he came again behind his line
of chorister boys and singers of the choir,
the church was filled with worshipers,
kneeling upon the stones. Petrowitch
passed the chancel gate without lifting
his head, and standing thus, at the foot
of the steps, recited the opening prayers.
He had promised himself to refrain till
the conservation was passed; had he seen
Dimitri Jegosch before this was done, he
feared that he would not be master Of
himself, and he wished neither to inter
rupt the Easter mass nor to touch the
host with ensanguined hands,
He remained, then, his eyes-when
compelled to face the people in order to
give tim his blessing-raised to the
nave or fastened upon the scroll work of
the arch of the door. And even as he
had predetermined, when he himself had
taken the communion and it was the
turn of the faithful to approach the holy
table, he lifted, with a hand which, did
not tremble, the heavy ciboire of conse-
Grated waters, and from left to right
along the chancel rail began the distribu-
ton. III
Dimitri Jegosch knelt upon the carpet
with the rest of the faithful; the priest
saw him but did not stop or hesitate.
The words of the administration: "Cor-
pus Domini nostri, custodiat amman
tuam in vitam aternamw came without
break or culver, as TRANQUILITY and SOL
EMMY he raised the chalice to the muir
derer's lips. se..
"Amenw respoded Jegosch, resuming
his place.
Peter Petrowitch remounted the altar
steps. HE has communed," he thought;
"mine enemy-he has communed."
Behind him rose the swelling tones of
the organ chant, then the voices sweet
and soft, or joyous and loud, beitting
the songs of an Easter morning, and
then-Peter Petrowitch turned about.
He had calculated well; in front of
him stood Dimitri Jegosch, as plainly
visible in his tightly buttoned coat as
the gaudily arrayed and sacred person
ages painted upon the window glass.
In another moment ball from the
hand of the minister of God stretched
lifeless and bleeding upon the floor of
the church the murderer of his brother.
Translated for The Argonaut from the
French by E. c. Waggener.