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Page 48
The chaplain could not help being rather pleased at the satisfaction the
dean would now be obliged to render him, for it had been quite against
the chaplain's wish and advice, that Johnsen was allowed to preach at
the morning service. It would have been more advisable to have given him
a first trial either at a Bible-reading, or at most at the evening
service. But now the murder was out, and he had shown his feeling of
antagonism to the Church before the whole congregation. What would the
dean do? The affair would naturally have to be reported.
As soon as the service was over, Martens left the altar and hurried into
the sacristy, into which he had already seen the dean enter.
"What do you say to that, sir?" he cried breathlessly, as he shut the
door after him.
Dean Sparre was sitting in his armchair, reading the hymn-book he had in
his hand. At the chaplain's question he raised his head with an
expression of mild reproof at the disturbance, and said abstractedly,
"To what are you alluding?"
"Why, the sermon; of course I allude to the sermon; it is perfectly
scandalous!" cried the chaplain, excitedly.
"Well, certainly," answered the dean, "I cannot say that it was a good
sermon, taken as a whole, but if you take into consideration--"
"But really, sir--" interrupted the chaplain.
"It appears to me, and it is not the first time I have noticed it, my
dear Martens, that you do not quite get on with our new fellow-worker;
but is it not to us that he ought really to look for support?"
The chaplain cast down his eyes; there was some extraordinary power
about his superior. Not an instant before he had formed his opinion
quite clearly, but the moment he found himself face to face with the
dean's genial countenance, all his ideas seemed to change.
"It grieves me to be obliged to speak to you thus, my dear Martens, but
I do so with the best intentions; and, then, we are alone."
"But don't you think, sir, that he was far too bold?" asked the
chaplain.
"Yes, clearly, clearly so," assented the dean, in a friendly tone. "He
was unguarded, like all beginners; perhaps the most unguarded I have
heard. But then we know quite well that the same thing often occurred in
our own time. It would be quite unreasonable to expect the Spirit's full
maturity in the young."
This remark caused Martens involuntarily to think of his own first
attempt. He answered, however, "But he maintained that we ministers,
above all others, are living a life of falsehood, shut in by meaningless
forms."
"Exaggeration! a wild and dangerous exaggeration! In that I quite agree
with you, my dear Martens. But, on the other hand, which of us can deny
that a ceremonial, be it ever so beautiful and full of meaning, still in
the course of time, when it is frequently repeated, loses something of
its influence over us? But who will dare cast the first stone? Is it not
youth, as we see, who has not yet experienced the wear of that
continuous labour which strives to be true to the end? And then
naturally we get exaggeration--dangerous exaggeration. But," continued
the dean, "before everything, let us agree to look upon his sermon in
the right light, for the opinion of many will be formed upon ours, and
if we now allow this young man to slip out of our hands he will, likely
enough, be entirely lost for the good work; and I must say I have great
hopes of him. I feel sure that in his right place, which would be in a
large town--for instance, in Christiania--he will make a name for
himself in the Church, and I venture to think that his labours will bear
abundant fruit."
Martens again looked up at the dean as he pronounced these words, and
for the first time he now perceived what it was that made his manner so
irresistible. It was the smile, that changing and varying smile, which
yet never entirely left the noble features. It seemed to mingle in all
he said, like a warm and soothing sunbeam; and as the chaplain
constrained himself to alter his opinion under its influence, he felt
that the muscles of his mouth involuntarily assumed the dean's
expression.
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