Page:Selected Czech tales - 1925.djvu/201

 When he awoke, a young Brother came to his bedside and said: ‘Sir, a man who is dangerously ill does not know what may befall him, but even for those who are in health it is better to confess themselves and cleanse their souls of all that troubles them. Will you repent and confess, and refresh your soul with the sweet solace of redemption?’

‘I will,’ said Manoel, ‘for I have ever gladly tasted of all refreshments and sweetnesses which it fell to my lot to enjoy.’

Then the pious Brother hurried off to his Superior, who was a famous confessor, and told him that there was a man lying ill in the hospital who bore the character of being a heathen, and that he might now perhaps be converted and brought to confess and repent.

And the priest went to Manoel and addressed him kindly: ‘My dear son, I have been told that your hours are numbered, and you are willing to pour out your soul before God and give Him an account of your deeds.’ He further talked eloquently of confession, and that it was well for us to look at life as a whole before leaving it, and recapitulate our deeds, so that Manoel began truly to long to confess himself, and begged the priest to give ear to him.