“Mon Pere, with the bones of my hands!”
“Consider, then, he is not now the man that you knew. The man who was blind and walked in dark places. He is now a soul in a world where a great light shines about him. He knows now that which he did not know here––Truth. He sees the things which here he did not see. He stands alone in the great open space of the Beyond. He looks up to God and cries: Seigneur Dieu, whither go I?
“And God replying, asks him why does he hesitate, standing in the open place. Would he come back to the world?
“And he answers: ‘No, my God; but I have left a debt behind and another man’s life stands in pledge for my debt; I cannot go forward with that debt unpaid.’
“Then God: ‘And is there none to cancel the 253 debt? Is there not one in all that world who loved you? Were you, then, so wicked that none loved you who will pay the debt?’
“And he will answer with a lifted heart: ‘My God, yes; there was one, a girl; in spite of me, she loved me; she will make the debt right; only because she loved me may I be saved; she will speak and the debt will be right; my God, let me go.’”
The Bishop’s French was sometimes wonderfully and fearfully put together. But the girl saw the pictures. The imagery was familiar to her race and faith. She was weeping softly, with almost a little break of joy among the tears. For she saw the man, whom she had loved in spite of what he was, lifted now out of the weaknesses and sins of life. And her love leaped up quickly to the ideal and the illusions that every woman craves for and clings to.
“This,” the Bishop was going on quietly, “is the new man we are to consider; the one who stands in the light and sees Truth. We must not hear the little mouthings of the world. Does he care for the opinions or the words that are said here? See, he stands in the great open space, all alone, and dares to look up to the Great God and tell Him all. Will you be afraid to stand in the court and tell these people, who do not matter at all?
“Remember, it is not for Jeffrey Whiting. It is not for the sake of Ruth Lansing. It is because 254 the man you loved calls back to you, from where he has gone, to do the thing which the wisdom he has now learned tells him must be done. He has learned the lesson of eternal Truth. He would have you tell.”
“Mon Pere, I will tell the tale,” said the girl simply as she rose from her knees. “I will go quickly, while I have yet the courage.”