CHAPTER XXVIII.

Of a murderer.

ONCE upon a time, when the Servitor was returning from the Netherlands, his road lay up the Rhine. He had with him a companion who was young, and a good walker. Now, it happened one day that he could not keep up with his swift companion, for he had become very tired and ill, and in consequence the companion had gone ahead of him about half-a-mile.⁷⁷   A German mile is about four English miles and a half. The Servitor looked back to see if any one was following in whose company he might 126go through the forest, at the skirts of which he had arrived, for it was late in the day. The forest, moreover, was extensive, and of ill repute, for many persons had been murdered in it. The Servitor therefore stopped at the out skirts of the forest, and waited to see whether any one was coming.

At length two persons approached, at a very rapid pace; the one was a young and pretty woman, the other a tall ferocious-looking man, carrying a spear and a long knife, and he had on a black jerkin. The Servitor was struck with dread at the terrible appearance of the man, and he looked round to see if there was any one following; but he saw no one. He thought within himself:—O Lord! what kind of people are these? How am I to go through this great forest, and how will it fare with me? Then he made the sign of the cross over his heart and ventured it. When they were al ready deep in the forest, the woman came for ward to him, and asked him who he was and what was his name. As soon as he had told her his name, she answered:—Dear sir, I know you well by name. I pray you to hear my confession. Then she began to confess, saying: Alas, worthy sir! it is with sorrow I tell you 127my sad lot. Do you see the man who follows us? He is by trade a murderer, and he murders people here in this wood and elsewhere, and takes from them their money and clothes. He never spares any one. He has deceived me, and carried me off from my friends, who are persons of good repute, and I am forced to be his wife.

The Servitor was so terrified by these words that he nearly fainted, and he cast a very sorrowful look all round him, if haply there were any one in sight or hearing, or any mode of escape. But there was no one to be seen or heard in the dark forest coming after them, except the murderer. Then he thought within himself:—If, weary as thou art, thou triest to flee, he will soon overtake and kill thee; and if thou criest out, no one will hear thee in this wilderness, and death again will be thy lot. He looked upwards very wofully, and said:—O my God, what is to become of me to-day? O death, how nigh thou art to me!

When the woman had finished confessing, she went back to the murderer, and besought him privily, saying:—Come now, dear friend, go forward, and make thy confession also; for it is a pious belief among my people that whoever 128confesses to him, however sinful he may be, will never be abandoned by God. Do it, then; that God may help thee, for His sake, at thy last hour.

While the two were thus whispering to each other, the Servitor’s terror knew no bounds, and the thought came to him:—Thou art betrayed! The murderer was silent, and went forward. Now, when the poor Servitor saw the murderer advancing upon him, spear in hand, his whole frame quivered with dread, and he thought with in himself:—Alas, now thou art lost! For he knew not what they had been talking about. At this point it happened that the Rhine ran close to the wood, and the narrow path lay along the bank. Moreover, the murderer so contrived it that the brother was forced to walk on the side next the water, while he walked next the wood. As the Servitor went along in this manner with trembling heart, the murderer began to confess, and revealed to him all the murders and crimes which he had ever committed. Especially he spoke of a horrible murder, which struck terror into the Servitor’s heart, and which he thus described:—I came once into this wood to rob and murder, as I have done to-day, and meeting with a venerable priest, I confessed to him, 129while he was walking beside me at this very spot, just as you are doing; and when the confession was over, I drew forth this knife and ran him through with it, and then thrust him from me over the hank into the Rhine.

These words, and the gestures with which the murderer accompanied them, made the Servitor turn pale, and terrified him so exceedingly that the cold sweat of death ran down his face upon his breast, and he shook with fear, and became speechless, and all his senses failed him, and he kept looking every moment at his side, expecting that the same knife would be thrust into him, and that he would then be pushed over into the river. Now just as he was on the point of falling down through agony of mind and utter inability to advance a step, he cast an exceeding piteous look all round him, like a person longing to escape death. The murderer’s damsel caught sight of his woe-stricken face, and running up received him in her arms, as he was falling, and holding him fast, said:—Good sir, be not afraid. He will not kill you. The murderer added:—Much good has been told me concerning you, and you shall have the benefit of it to-day, for I will let you live. Beg of God 130to help and favour me, a poor criminal, at my last hour, for your sake.

In the mean time they had come out of the forest, and the Servitor’s companion was sitting there under a tree waiting for him. The murderer and his partner passed on. But the Servitor, crawling to his companion, sank down on the ground, while his heart and his whole body trembled, as in an attack of ague, and he lay thus motionless for a long time. At length on recovering himself, he rose up and went on his way; and he besought God earnestly and with deep inward sighings for the murderer, that He would let him have the benefit of the pious confidence which he had conceived towards the Servitor, and not suffer him to be damned at his last hour. God gave the Servitor such an in ward assurance of this, that it was impossible for him to doubt that the murderer would be saved.