I was then able to tell him the sequel of the story; how the arch-priest
had put the greater part of the treasure into the alms-box, and, for the
rest, the sum being too large to enter all of it into the box, he had
taken charge of it, together with the diamond ring, and had designed the
whole sum to be expended for the benefit of the church. On hearing this he replied that he had rather that the money should be
disposed of in that way than that blackleg of a sacristan should get a
penny of it. He said that he was perfectly sure that the arch-priest had
only so disposed of the money from a sincere belief that it had been
miraculously placed in the alms-box, he himself being the dupe of his
own rascally sacristan to whom he trusted implicitly. He was of opinion that had he been allowed to explain himself to the
arch-priest, his reverence would have granted him, if not his proper
share of the sum, at least some portion of it. I promised him that I
would lay his case before the arch-priest, and do what I could to get
him liberated from prison. He thanked me, and slipping a small coin into
the turnkey's hand, I quitted the cell. It was now quite dark, so I thought I would make the best of my way
home, where my supper awaited me. The following morning was rainy, and
not being able to work out of doors, I resolved to call again upon the
arch-priest, and finding him at home, I related to him my interview with
the prisoner and the statement he gave of the case. My reverend friend looked thoughtful for a time, shook his head, and
hinted that the prisoner's veracity might not be depended on. "However," he added, "the tale seems feasible, and I desire nothing more
than that the prisoner should have justice. I will probe the matter to
the bottom, and if he has spoken the truth I will get him liberated as
soon as possible, and will moreover give out publicly in the church
that what we had erroneously taken for a miracle was nothing more than a
curious combination of circumstances perfectly natural, though strange,
and that I had been imposed upon by the villainous and profane lies of
my sacristan. It will require time to prove all this; meanwhile, Antonio
must take his trial at Gennazzano. He left here at five o'clock this
morning." "So early!" I exclaimed. "I wanted, if possible, to prevent his going." "You take great interest in his case," said my friend. "I like to see mysteries cleared up as soon as possible," I replied. "I
know that the love of the marvellous is so great among the ignorant in
these parts, that they prefer persisting to believe in a miracle, even
in the face of facts which explain it away in the most natural manner
possible. This proneness to attribute to supernatural causes everything
that we are unable to account for on the first glance, and to yield
ourselves up implicitly to the belief of what is irrational, absurd,
improbable, without first weighing thoroughly the _pros_ and _cons_ of
the case, is one of the unmistakable signs of a barbarous and
uncultivated intellect, and ought to be discouraged as a trait unworthy
the dignity of human nature by everyone who has the improvement and
well-being of his fellow creatures at heart." The arch-priest smiled drily, as if he had taken my last speech to
himself; then, after a pause, he began:

"No Christian man will deny that miracles have been wrought, or will
dare to call in question those of our blessed Lord or of His saints. If,
then, he acknowledges these, why should he try to combat the existence
of modern miracles, seeing that everything is possible to the Almighty? What! Shall we limit the power of the Omnipotent, or dare to measure
things infinite by our finite faculties? It would be the height of
presumption for anyone to maintain that these things cannot be, or that
our Heavenly Father cares less for His creatures now than he did in the
days of yore." "No wise man, Christian or otherwise," I replied, "would deny that any
wonder were possible to the Divine author of the universe, the Great
Source of all things wonderful. Yet science, the gift of God Himself,
mind you, since He in the first place created us with intellect to see
into, in some measure, however darkly, His wonderful workings, in order
that we might be taught to admire them and thereby come to a more
perfect knowledge of His unspeakable greatness--science, I say, reveals
to us that our universal Father rules all nature by means of certain
fixed laws, from which we have no reason to believe that He would turn
aside for a trifle--to excite mere wonderment among an ignorant
multitude by performing such a conjuring trick as a bleeding crucifix or
weeping Madonna. Our Lord Himself was chary of His miracles, and when
asked for a sign would often refuse; yet when He did perform miracles,
they were invariably to do good, and not to excite wonderment. If many
intelligent people disbelieve in modern miracles, it is because they
have not come within their experience, or that many seeming miracles
they have been able to explain by natural causes. "They have been made, moreover, doubly cautious in receiving hearsay
miracles for gospel from the numerous cases of imposture that have been
discovered among the priesthood in all countries where the Roman
Catholic religion has prevailed. Then, why should miracles only be
wrought in little sequestered villages, among the ignorant and
superstitious, and not in large towns, in the presence of an intelligent
and investigating population? Why, moreover, should they be more
prevalent in mountainous districts than in any others? Why? Save that
from the topographical configuration of the country, the inhabitants of
mountain villages are necessarily more shut out from intercommunication
with their kind than the dwellers in more accessible regions, and
consequently cut off from that interchange of ideas so necessary to the
development of the human intellect. "Because their minds thus necessarily forced into one narrow channel
till the intelligence borders on that of the brute, and is kept down to
that pitch by a coarse and monotonous diet, which hard labour enables
them to earn but scantily, and, finally, because by intermarrying
closely among their own narrow population they reproduce offspring, if
anything, more stunted in intelligence than themselves--to say nothing
of other natural influences which help to produce cretinism, goitre, and
deformity--and thus shutting out from their poor benighted intellects
their last chance of fair play. "Ignorant by force of circumstances, superstitious because they are
ignorant, naturally discontented, with a life of hard labour that barely
supplies that life's necessaries, what wonder that the human mind thus
stunted and oppressed by all its surroundings, should seek an outlet? That that outlet should be one that held out promises of a better time
to come than they are ever likely to see in their plodding every-day
life?