The old man contented himself with a shake of the head and touched his glass to the farmer’s; but one could see that he was more moved by the heartiness that accompanied the alms than the alms itself.
When he had taken up his wallet again and bade them good-by, Moser watched him go until he had disappeared around a bend in the road. Then drawing a breath, he said, turning to his guest:
“One more poor old man without a home. You may believe me or not, monsieur, but when I see men with shaking heads going about like that, begging their bread from door to door, it turns my blood. I should like to set the table for them all and touch glasses with them all as I did just now with Père Henri. To keep your heart from breaking at such a sight, you must believe that there is a world up there where those who have not been summoned to the ordinary here will receive double rations and double pay.”
“You must hold to that belief,” said Arnold; “it will support and console you. It will be long before I shall forget the hours I have passed in your house, and I trust they will not be the last.”
“Whenever you choose,” said the old soldier; “if you don’t find the bed up there too hard and if you can digest our bacon, come at your pleasure, and we shall always be under obligations to you.”
He shook the hand that the young man had extended, pointed out the way that he must take, and did not leave the threshold until he had seen his guest disappear in the turn of the road.
For some time Arnold walked with lowered head, but upon reaching the summit of the hill he turned to take a last backward look, and seeing the farm-house chimney, above which curled a light wreath of smoke, he felt a tear of tenderness rise to his eye.
“May God always protect those who live under that roof!” he murmured; “for where pride made me see creatures incapable of understanding the finer qualities of the soul, I have found models for myself. I judged the depths by the surface and thought poetry absent because, instead of showing itself without, it hid itself in the heart of the things themselves; ignorant observer that I was, I pushed aside with my foot what I thought were pebbles, not guessing that in these rude stones were hidden diamonds.”