‘You denied Purgatory also; you must go straight to Hell,’ said the angel.
‘But, my lord, I denied Hell also,’ answered the priest, ‘so you can’t send me there either.’
‘Well,’ said he, ‘I’ll tell you what I can do for you. You may either live now on earth for a hundred years enjoying every pleasure, and then be cast into Hell for ever; or you may die in twenty-four hours in the most horrible torments, and pass through Purgatory, there to remain till the Day of Judgment, if only you can find some one person that believes, and through his belief mercy will be vouchsafed to you and your soul will be saved.’
The priest did not take five minutes to make up his mind.
‘I will have death in the twenty-four hours,’ he said, ‘so that my soul may be saved at last.’
On this the angel gave him directions as to what he was to do, and left him.
Then, immediately, the priest entered the large room where all his scholars and the kings’ sons were seated, and called out to them—
‘Now, tell me the truth, and let none fear to contradict me. Tell me what is your belief. Have men souls?’
‘Master,’ they answered, ‘once we believed that men had souls; but, thanks to your teaching, we believe so no longer. There is no Hell, and no Heaven, and no God. This is our belief, for it is thus you taught us.’
Then the priest grew pale with fear, and cried out: ‘Listen! I taught you a lie. There is a God, and man has an immortal soul. I believe now all I denied before.’
But the shouts of laughter that rose up drowned the priest’s voice, for they thought he was only trying them for argument.
‘Prove it, master,’ they cried, ‘prove it! Who has ever seen God? Who has ever seen the soul?’
And the room was stirred with their laughter.
The priest stood up to answer them, but no word could he utter; all his eloquence, all his powers of argument, had gone from him, and he could do nothing but wring his hands and cry out—
‘There is a God! there is a God! Lord, have mercy on my soul!’
And they all began to mock him, and repeat his own words that he had taught them—
And he fled from them groaning with agony, for he saw that none believed, and how then could his soul be saved?
‘She will believe,’ he said to himself. ‘Women never give up God.’