"Oh! misery and horror!" screamed the blind man. "Crushed like a worm, a great, strong man! and no one to help you, no one!"
"The brethren could scarcely save their own lives, the people of the neighbourhood fled from the fearful scene; for three days I have lain here, abandoned, and not a hand to give me a draught of water."
"I will fetch you some water, I will find the spring," cried Donatus, but Correntian held him back.
"No, never mind, the well is choked, and it would not serve me now. My torture is near its end, I feel--"
"Oh poor soul, and must you end so miserably?" lamented the younger man. "Crushed by the altar you so faithfully served!"
"Do not grieve for me, I die as I have lived--for the Church. It is the highest mercy that God should grant me to die such a death. There is one who is yet more to be pitied than I." Donatus staggered.
"God help me, not the Abbot?"
"Yes, unhappy boy, the Abbot, who loved you with a love which was a sin against the rules of our holy Order--he expiated his sin fearfully."
"Speak, for pity's sake, torture me no longer," implored Donatus. "What happened to him?"
"Count Reichenberg demanded that he should give you up, for he thought you were hidden in the convent, and when he refused--was obliged to refuse--he had him bound and dragged into the court-yard and then--" Correntian paused for breath.