“Do not plunge about so, dilectissime; you see it is of no use,” said the brother, holding the robber so far away from him by his hairy poll with outstretched hand that at last he was obliged to capitulate.
“Thou seest what unmercifulness thou dost compel us to adopt, amantissime!” said the brother apologetically, but still holding him aloft with one hand and shaking a reproving finger at him with the other. “Dost thou not shudder at thyself, does not thine own soul accuse thee for coming to plunder holy places? Or dost thou not think of the Kingdom of Hell to the very threshold of which evil resolves have misguided thy feet, and where there will be weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth?”
“Let me go, you devil of a friar!” gasped the robber, hoarse with rage.
“Not until thou hast come to thyself and art sorry for thy sins,” said the brother, still holding in the air his dilectissime, whose eyes by this time were starting out of his head because of the tugging pressure on his hair; “thou must be sorry for thy sins.”
“I am sorry then, only let me go!”
“And wilt thou turn back to the right path?”
“Yes, yes, of course I will.”
“And thou wilt steal no more?”
“Not a cockchafer.”
“Nor curse and swear?”
“Never no more.”
“Very well, then, I’ll let thee go. But, colleague Magyari, first of all tie all these daggers and axes together and fling them out of the window.”
Mr. Magyari, who had meanwhile disposed of the magister by tying his hands and legs so tightly that he was unable to move a muscle, effected the clearance confided to him, while Brother Gregory deposited on the ground his convert, who leaned against the wall breathing heavily.
“Well, you monk of hell, give me something to eat if there’s anything like a kitchen here.”
“Oh, my dear son,” said the pater tenderly, stroking the face of his lambkin; “believe me, that there is more joy in heaven over one converted sinner—”
“You’re a devil, not a friar; for if you were a man of God you could not have got over Kökényesdi so easily—Kökényesdi, who was wont to overthrow whole armadas single-handed—and now to be beaten by an unarmed man!”
“Thou didst come against me with an axe and a fokos,14 but I came against thee in the name of the Lord of Hosts, and He who permitted David the shepherd to pluck the raging lion by the beard and slay him, hath aided my arm also in order that I might be a blessing to thee.”
“Blessing indeed!—hang me up! I deserve it for letting myself be collared by a parson.”
“Oh, my dear son, to attribute such flagrant cruelty to me! Heaven rejoices not in the death of a sinner.”
“Then let me go!”
“How could I let thee go when thou art but half converted? Rather remain here, my son, in this holy seclusion and try and cleanse thy soul by holy penance and prayer.”
The robber foamed with rage.
“Where is there a nail that I may hang myself upon it?”
“That thou certainly wilt never be able to do, for a worthy pater shall always be by thy side to teach thee how to sing the Psalter.”
The robber gnashed his teeth and stamped with his feet as he cast at the terrible brother bloodshot glances very similar to those which a hyena casts upon a beast-tamer whom he would like to tear to bits and grind to mincemeat, but whom he durst not attack, being well aware that if he but lay a paw or even cast an eye upon him he will instantly be felled to the ground.
“Besides that,” continued the brother, “by way of a first trial thou shalt presently deliver a God-fearing discourse.”
“I preach a sermon!”
“Not exactly a sermon, but inasmuch as thy faithful followers outside the walls of the monastery may be growing impatient at thy long absence, thou wilt stand at a window and, after assuring them of thy heartfelt penitence, thou wilt send the worthy fellows away that they may depart to their own homes.”
“Very well,” said Kökényesdi, thinking all the time, let me once be planted at the window in the sight of my bands and at a word from me they will break up the whole monastery, and I will leap out to them at the first opening.
Then Brother Gregory called Magyari aside and whispered in his ear: “You meanwhile will get the carriage ready and take your seat in it with your daughter, and as soon as you perceive that the rabble has departed from the monastery, you will drive straight to Klausenburg and inform Mr. Ebéni, the commandant, that a mixed band of freebooters, together with the garrison of Szathmár, has invaded the realm. I detected a helmet beneath a cowl of one of the rascals I kicked into the cellar. Try to defend the capital against their attacks. God be with you!”
The two priests pressed each other’s hands, whereupon Brother Gregory, taking the robber by the arms and shoving him through a little low door, in order that no mischief might befall him, caught him by the nape of the neck and began to force him to ascend a narrow corkscrew staircase, two or three steps at a time.
It was evening now and dark, and there was nothing about the corkscrew staircase to suggest to the robber whither he was being led till at last the brother opened a trapdoor with his head and emerged with him on to a light place and deposited him in front
