San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1926-01-03

petrified devils were hidden by the
darkness and its rows of saints.
None could see how stone Eve
tempted a stone Adam above its
principal door, or how, set above
these two, the Son of God stretched
forward His outstretched palms, a
stony crown upon His brow. The
carved fleurs-de-lys of the pima
cles, the mutely barking gargoyles,
the niched angels, all were blotted
out. One of the tall doors of the
double portal, beautifully-though
now invisibly-overlaid with foil
age of hammered iron, was ajar.
Its mercy-knocker-a ring of iron
held in the mouth of a jutting
lions head-was within easy hand
reach of a man of ordinary height.
Time and again fugitive, with
the stripped swords of vengeance
seekers close upon him, had
grasped that ring, and felt his
slackened knees give under him,
knowing that on the very edge of
death he had found the sure pro-
lection of the church.
Where the high door stood slight
ly open the faintest rumor of
buried light was whispered out into
the dark. Going carefully and
softly one passed, by the grace
of a narrow favor, from the night
without into the night within.
"Where is the Chapel of the
Resurrection" asked Sidonia in a
whisper. She had paused. The
intangible yet real weight of awe
that had fallen so heavily upon her
on the previous morning during
high mass lay again, yoke-wise,
across the shoulders of her soul.
The darkness was that of a close
wood of giant, imme mortal tree
trunks, or of a sunless cavern of
pillared stalactites, unimaginably
lofty. But at the far end of the
vista a red spark glowed-the I'M
dying lamp CT the sanctuary that
advertised the presence of God, and
nearer, but to one side, a galaxy
of candle-stars, soft and butter
yellow, revealed the coffin-shaped
shrine of the towns saint = its
sheeted glass, its enamelled gold
work. There were hints of unseen
movement-the shuttle of foot,
the lisping drag of garments. But
they were furtive as night sounds
in a forest. The silence of the
place was solid as its stones.
The young man did not speak.
They went forward about twenty
PAGES. The red spark was imme-
diately before them, but so far
removed. Gervais knelt and the
girl was with him. She was ex-
pectant of sudden and terrible
happenings. Oh, surely his God
would protect him! She tried to
turn her thought to this God, but
her mind was benumbed. 1t was
impossible to think of herself as
an outcast-Perdition's daughter
by adoption-yet Gervais was
about to free her from the Master
and draw her, as by main force,
within the pale of the christened.
She fixed her eyes on the distant
ruby spark, knowing nothing of its
significance. 1t was like a very
small flower of fire. The stones
were cold under her knees. She
knew that Gervais was praying.
Before the miracle working
shrine, that was Illuminated by
many candles, the Countess Sabine
knelt on velvet cushion. Her
hands were pressed, palm to palm,
and her lips moved. Her forget
me-not eyes, with their light au-
burn lashes, were fixed on the
sharp, dry profile of the mummi-
fled saint.
Far down the solemn cavern of
the church, near the grave portal,
whose height suggested entering
archangels rather than men, the |
Chapel of the Resurrection showed |.
vaguely like a grotto of gloom. |
Sidonia, hand-linked with Gervais,
approached it. The girl had some
thing of a cats faculty of sight |
in the dark. She knew there |
should be a doorway here, to the |
right-hand side. All! low-stat-
ured blackness upon blackness,
arched and rounded. 1t was she
who led Gervais now. Blindly, |
gripping each others fingers, they
began to descend a straitened
flight of steps.
1t was slow work. Gervais kept |
one hand against the wall, and his
stern grip of her checked even the
careful rate of the girls faltering
descent. With an intake of the
breath Sidonia paused. Her out
stretched, nervous finger-tips had
encountered a barrier.
"What is it," asked Gervais in
a whisper.
"a door. 1t will be opened if l
knock in a certain way"
Two low knocks and then third
knuckles against solid
wood. The girls heart stood still;
for the first time she was afraid.
The young man, with a fumbling
quickness, unsheathed his sword.
For some eternal moments
nothing. Then, simultaneously,
they both knew that the door had
opened. A pulse of indirect light,
very feeble, beat unsteadily In the ]