CHAPTER IV.
KINDNESS TO AN ENEMY—ARNOLD ARRIVES ALIVE, BUT WOUNDED—THEOBALD'S AMAZEMENT AT THE KINDNESS HE RECEIVES.
Erard heard the voice of his grandfather, and ran to throw himself in his arms, exclaiming, "The wicked man! the wicked man!--he has killed my father! God has not preserved him, grandpapa! My father is dead!"
"Adore God, my son!" said Gottfried, overcoming his grief, "and do not murmur! Especially, my son, do not grow angry, and do not hate!"
"But, grandpapa," replied Erard, with anguish, "it was he who was struck! It was my father whom he killed!"
"No, my son; the warrior killed one whom he fancied an enemy, Erard! Theobald believed himself serving God, and doing a holy work, in killing a Calixtan."
"He then does not love Jesus—this poor chevalier!" exclaimed the pious child. "O, grandpapa, how unhappy he must be!"
"Yes, my son—very unhappy!" replied Gottfried. "Do not hate him, therefore, but pray to God for him. Was it not God who conducted him hither—and was it not that we might speak to him of Jesus, and that we might love him—yes, Erard, that we might love him, for the sake of our Saviour?"
"But," exclaimed the old man, rising and advancing towards the window of his room, "what is this? What do I see in the distance, toward the rocks, at the entrance to the wood?" Erard looked also, and was sure that he saw men. "Yes—soldiers!" exclaimed he; "for I see their helmets glisten. There are many of them, grandpapa! Are they coming to kill us also, because we love Jesus?"
"Yes," continued the old man, without replying to the child; "they are, indeed, soldiers. But they are marching slowly, and it would seem---- Ah, my child! they are our own warriors; and it is my son—it is the body of your father—that they are bearing. O God of mercy, support us at this hour!"