Chapter 1

It was in 1590--winter. Austria was far away from the world, and asleep;

it was still the Middle Ages in Austria, and promised to remain so

forever. Some even set it away back centuries upon centuries and said

that by the mental and spiritual clock it was still the Age of Belief

in Austria. But they meant it as a compliment, not a slur, and it was so

taken, and we were all proud of it. I remember it well, although I was

only a boy; and I remember, too, the pleasure it gave me.

Yes, Austria was far from the world, and asleep, and our village was in

the middle of that sleep, being in the middle of Austria. It drowsed in

peace in the deep privacy of a hilly and woodsy solitude where news from

the world hardly ever came to disturb its dreams, and was infinitely

content. At its front flowed the tranquil river, its surface painted

with cloud-forms and the reflections of drifting arks and stone-boats;

behind it rose the woody steeps to the base of the lofty precipice;

from the top of the precipice frowned a vast castle, its long stretch of

towers and bastions mailed in vines; beyond the river, a league to the

left, was a tumbled expanse of forest-clothed hills cloven by winding

gorges where the sun never penetrated; and to the right a precipice

overlooked the river, and between it and the hills just spoken of lay a

far-reaching plain dotted with little homesteads nested among orchards

and shade trees.

The whole region for leagues around was the hereditary property of a

prince, whose servants kept the castle always in perfect condition for

occupancy, but neither he nor his family came there oftener than once

in five years. When they came it was as if the lord of the world had

arrived, and had brought all the glories of its kingdoms along; and when

they went they left a calm behind which was like the deep sleep which

follows an orgy.

Eseldorf was a paradise for us boys. We were not overmuch pestered with

schooling. Mainly we were trained to be good Christians; to revere

the Virgin, the Church, and the saints above everything. Beyond these

matters we were not required to know much; and, in fact, not allowed

to. Knowledge was not good for the common people, and could make them

discontented with the lot which God had appointed for them, and God

would not endure discontentment with His plans. We had two priests. One

of them, Father Adolf, was a very zealous and strenuous priest, much

considered.

There may have been better priests, in some ways, than Father Adolf, but

there was never one in our commune who was held in more solemn and awful

respect. This was because he had absolutely no fear of the Devil. He was

the only Christian I have ever known of whom that could be truly said.

People stood in deep dread of him on that account; for they thought that

there must be something supernatural about him, else he could not be so

bold and so confident. All men speak in bitter disapproval of the Devil,

but they do it reverently, not flippantly; but Father Adolf's way was

very different; he called him by every name he could lay his tongue to,

and it made everyone shudder that heard him; and often he would

even speak of him scornfully and scoffingly; then the people crossed

themselves and went quickly out of his presence, fearing that something

fearful might happen.

Father Adolf had actually met Satan face to face more than once, and

defied him. This was known to be so. Father Adolf said it himself. He

never made any secret of it, but spoke it right out. And that he was

speaking true there was proof in at least one instance, for on that

occasion he quarreled with the enemy, and intrepidly threw his bottle at

him; and there, upon the wall of his study, was the ruddy splotch where

it struck and broke.

But it was Father Peter, the other priest, that we all loved best and

were sorriest for. Some people charged him with talking around in

conversation that God was all goodness and would find a way to save all

his poor human children. It was a horrible thing to say, but there was

never any absolute proof that Father Peter said it; and it was out of

character for him to say it, too, for he was always good and gentle and

truthful. He wasn't charged with saying it in the pulpit, where all the

congregation could hear and testify, but only outside, in talk; and it

is easy for enemies to manufacture that. Father Peter had an enemy and a

very powerful one, the astrologer who lived in a tumbled old tower up

the valley, and put in his nights studying the stars. Every one knew he

could foretell wars and famines, though that was not so hard, for there

was always a war, and generally a famine somewhere. But he could also

read any man's life through the stars in a big book he had, and find

lost property, and every one in the village except Father Peter stood in

awe of him. Even Father Adolf, who had defied the Devil, had a wholesome

respect for the astrologer when he came through our village wearing his

tall, pointed hat and his long, flowing robe with stars on it, carrying

his big book, and a staff which was known to have magic power. The

bishop himself sometimes listened to the astrologer, it was said, for,

besides studying the stars and prophesying, the astrologer made a great

show of piety, which would impress the bishop, of course.

But Father Peter took no stock in the astrologer. He denounced him

openly as a charlatan--a fraud with no valuable knowledge of any kind,

or powers beyond those of an ordinary and rather inferior human being,

which naturally made the astrologer hate Father Peter and wish to ruin

him. It was the astrologer, as we all believed, who originated the story

about Father Peter's shocking remark and carried it to the bishop. It

was said that Father Peter had made the remark to his niece, Marget,

though Marget denied it and implored the bishop to believe her and spare

her old uncle from poverty and disgrace. But the bishop wouldn't listen.

He suspended Father Peter indefinitely, though he wouldn't go so far as

to excommunicate him on the evidence of only one witness; and now Father

Peter had been out a couple of years, and our other priest, Father

Adolf, had his flock.

Those had been hard years for the old priest and Marget. They had been

favorites, but of course that changed when they came under the shadow

of the bishop's frown. Many of their friends fell away entirely, and the

rest became cool and distant. Marget was a lovely girl of eighteen when

the trouble came, and she had the best head in the village, and the most

in it. She taught the harp, and earned all her clothes and pocket money

by her own industry. But her scholars fell off one by one now; she was

forgotten when there were dances and parties among the youth of the

village; the young fellows stopped coming to the house, all except

Wilhelm Meidling--and he could have been spared; she and her uncle were

sad and forlorn in their neglect and disgrace, and the sunshine was gone

out of their lives. Matters went worse and worse, all through the two

years. Clothes were wearing out, bread was harder and harder to get.

And now, at last, the very end was come. Solomon Isaacs had lent all the

money he was willing to put on the house, and gave notice that to-morrow

he would foreclose.