'And you permitted the spreading of heresy?' he exclaimed.
'I tried to stop it, but in vain,' said Guarini. 'Investigations were made, and I hope Zinzendorf will be banished.'
'But they must have committed some abominations!' said the guest.
'The most careful investigations failed to discover anything vicious. Those people confess different creeds, but they are united in one strange community, in which there is no private property, no poor people, no orphans; they constitute one family, the father of which is Christ.'
'Horrendum!' exclaimed the stranger. 'And the marriages?'
'They are strictly observed, but as they believe that they are directly ruled by Christ, you may guess how marriages are contracted. The young men draw their wives by lots and the couples live an exemplary life.'
'You tell me of strange things. But may they not be false rumours?'
'I was there myself, and I saw the praying bands of maidens with purple sashes, of married women with blue, and of widows with white.'
The guest sighed.
'I trust you will not suffer the sect to grow.'