should be a comfort, but they knew intuitively that no evil would
happen to the son of a professor.

"Come along, Wennerstroem," said the minister, after he had lighted
the gas in the vestry.

Wennerstroem went and the door closed behind him. The four remained
seated on their forms, vainly trying to discover a comfortable
position for their limbs.

After a while Wennerstroem returned, with red eyes, trembling with
excitement; he immediately went down the corridor and out into the
night.

When he stood in the churchyard which lay silent under a heavy cover
of snow, he recapitulated all that had happened in the vestry. The
minister had asked him whether he had sinned? No, he had not. Did he
have dreams? Yes! He was told that dreams were equally sinful, because
they proved that the heart was wicked, and God looked at the heart.
"He trieth the heart and reins, and on the last day he will judge
every one of us for every sinful thought, and dreams are thoughts.
Christ has said: Give me your heart, my son! Go to Him! Pray, pray,
pray! Whatsoever is chaste, whatsoever is pure, whatsoever is
lovely--that is He. The alpha and the omega, life and happiness.
Chasten the flesh and be strong in prayer. Go in the name of the Lord
and sin no more!"

He felt indignant, but he was also crushed. In vain did he struggle to
throw off his depression, he had not been taught sufficient common-sense
at school to use it as a weapon against this Jesuitical sophistry. It