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The Black Robe-Part52_WILKIE COLLINS (1824-1899)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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formality (which I need not mention more particularly) by a



special dispensation. Under these circumstances--communicated to

me while Stella and I have been together in this house--the



wife's presence at the bedside of her dying husband is regarded

by the other priests at the Embassy as a scandal and a



profanation. The kind-hearted Nuncio is blamed for having

exceeded his powers in yielding (even under protest) to the last



wishes of a dying man. He is now in communication with Rome,

waiting for the final instructions which are to guide him."



"Has Romayne seen his child?" I asked.

"Stella has taken the child with her to-day. It is doubtful in



the last degree whether the poor little boy will be allowed to

enter his father's room. _That_ complication is even more serious



than the other. The dying Romayne persists in his resolution to

see the child. So completely has his way of thinking been altered



by the approach of death, and by the closing of the brilliant

prospect which was before him, that he even threatens to recant,



with his last breath, if his wishes are not complied with. How it

will end I cannot even venture to guess.



"Unless the merciful course taken by the Nuncio is confirmed,"

said Lord Loring, "it may end in a revival of the protest of the



Catholic priests in Germany against the prohibition of marriage

to the clergy. The movement began in Silesia in 1826, and was



followed by unions (or Leagues, as we should call them now) in

Baden, Wurtemburg, Bavaria, and Rhenish Prussia. Later still, the



agitation spread to France and Austria. It was only checked by a

papal bull issued in 1847, reiterating the final decision of the



famous Council of Trent in favor of the celibacy of the

priesthood. Few people are aware that this rule has been an



institution of slow growth among the clergy of the Church of

Rome. Even as late as the twelfth century, there were still



priests who set the prohibition of marriage at defiance."

I listened, as one of the many ignorant persons alluded to by



Lord Loring. It was with difficulty that I fixed my attention on

what he was saying. My thoughts wandered to Stella and to the



dying man. I looked at the clock.

Lady Loring evidently shared the feeling of suspense that had got



possession of me. She rose and walked to the window.

"Here is the message!" she said, recognizing her traveling



servant as he entered the hotel door.

The man appeared, with a line written on a card. I was requested



to present the card at the Embassy, without delay.

May 4.--I am only now able to continue my record of the events of



yesterday.

A silent servant received me at the Embassy, looked at the card,



and led the way to an upper floor of the house. Arrived at the

end of a long passage, he opened a door, and retired.



As I crossed the threshold Stella met me. She took both my hands

in hers and looked at me in silence. All that was true and good



and noble expressed itself in that look.

The interval passed, and she spoke--very sadly, very quietly.



"One more work of mercy, Bernard. Help him to die with a heart at

rest."



She drew back--and I approached him.

He reclined, propped up with pillows, in a large easy-chair; it



was the one position in which he could still breathe with

freedom. The ashy shades of death were on his wasted face. In the



eyes alone, as they slowly turned on me, there still glimmered

the waning light of life. One of his arms hung down over the



chair; the other was clasped round his child, sitting on his

knee. The boy looked at me wonderingly, as I stood by his father.



Romayne signed to me to stoop, so that I might hear him.

"Penrose?" he asked, faintly whispering. "Dear Arthur! Not dying,



like me?"

I quieted _that_ anxiety. For a moment there was even the shadow



of a smile on his face, as I told him of the effort that Penrose

had vainly made to be the companion of my journey. He asked me,



by another gesture, to bend my ear to him once more.




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