"No iron or lead," whispered the veteran, "but I can tell you of something else."
"Say on, my son; you are absolved beforehand."
"But, good father, it is a sinful method."
"All means are justified for the benefit of our Holy Faith. Speak, my son."
"Gold from a holy image."
"Never, my son, no; we dare not do that. Had it been a dagger of glass, or an occult poison, it would do; but gold from a saint's image, no, my son, let us forget the unholy idea."
Meanwhile the cloak of night had descended, and death's work for the time was finished. The worn-out soldiers refreshed themselves with food and drink, and Keller passed around some fine liquors to sustain their courage.
Lady Regina had moved down to one of the inner apartments; Count Fritz had gone to bed. Soon all was silent, except the call of the sentinels, the songs of drunken soldiers, and the murmur of the feast which Keller gave to his officers in the armoury. But in the fine chapel, where stood the pure golden statues of Christ and the Virgin Mary, the midnight mass was over, and all the monks except one had gone to rest, or—the wine-cup. This lonely figure was still kneeling before the altar, and the perpetually burning lamp shed its dim rays over the praying pallid Jesuit.
"Holy Virgin," prayed he, "forgive thy humble servant for daring to take from thee a small piece of thy golden robe. Thou knowest, oh sanctissima, that it is for a holy and sacred end, in order to kill the sworn enemy of the holy church, the heretic king, whom the heathen Finns with their devilish arts have rendered invulnerable to the steel and lead of the true believers. Grant that the gold, which I, in thy honour, take from thy glorious mantle, may pierce the wicked heart of the godless king, and I promise thee, holy mother, to replace what thou hast lost by a costly robe of velvet and pearls. Three gilded candles will I cause to burn also, night and day, before thy image. Amen."
When Father Hieronymus had finished his devotions, he looked up, and it appeared to him as if the image in the light of the eternal lamp smiled its approval to the fanatical petition.