The priest dismounted his weary donkey and brushed through the roadside bramble with a wagging finger and heated words. “Add not lies, Heinrich! Add not lies!” He pushed between the two and hissed spittle and fury from his purpled face. “Sinners be damned!”
Heinrich backed away and dropped his eyes.
“Do not hide your lust in mercy, man. Do you think me a fool?”
Heinrich stood, speechless and confused. Indeed, he thought, perhaps there was some desire.
“And you, woman!” Pious shouted as he turned his back on Heinrich. “Wife of one, mother of three! Whore! Scourge!” With those words the priest raised his hand and slapped the quivering Katharina across the side of her head. She whimpered and fell.
Heinrich’s change was sudden and complete. His eyes burned and his teeth clenched. He grabbed the priest’s cowl from the rear and jerked the man around. Then, with a warrior’s cry he smashed his fist squarely into Pious’s flaccid, fleshy face, first once, then twice, then a third time.
Pious staggered backward until a fourth blow dropped him groaning to the ground. The man lay motionless and bloodied, staring at the evening sky of June in disbelief and shock.
Heinrich stood over him, his legs straddled across the priest’s wide girth. His fists were tight and readied for more; his nostrils flared in rage and contempt. “See to it, priest, that Ludwig’s punished, else I shall do it m’self. And if you lay a hand on this woman again, I shall do you worse!”
Katharina burst into tears. Then, with a grateful look at her friend, she scurried toward her waiting ox and hurried home.
It was a long fortnight before Father Pious came pounding on Heinrich’s hovel door. The baker had spent the time in a private agony of guilt, shame, and fear, for he was certain a harsh consequence would surely be the fruit of his behavior. Pious had been vacant from his pulpit and Father Albert served at the altar in Weyer, but Heinrich could not miss the hard eyes of his favored priest and knew the man was not ignorant of his offenses.
“Open, I say. Heinrich, open thy door!”
Marta answered. She was tired and worn from a day of summer’s tasks but seemed to brighten at the sight of men of God in her doorway. “Father Pious … and Father Albert? And, and Bailiff Werner?” Her eyes lingered curiously on Pious for just a moment. His white-bleached skin was spotted with light green bruises and the woman wondered.
“Poor, dear soul,” began Pious. “Is thy husband here?”
Heinrich had just returned from his fields and was in the croft repairing the fence. He heard the men and came slowly to meet them. “I am here.” A cold, clammy sweat came over him. Thunder rumbled in the east and a gust of wind stirred the dust on the footpath.
Werner glared at the man. His brown eyes were close set and penetrating. “You needs get inside!” he ordered.
Heinrich drew a deep breath and nodded. The five gathered in Heinrich’s common room as a summer storm drifted closer. Pious began. “Marta, poor and blessed woman. You have spoken truly of thy fears and of your jeopardy. Indeed, your husband brings grave risk to this household. Thy children and thyself shall surely suffer for his sins. As our Scripture says, ‘the sins of the father shall be visited upon the children.’ I must ask you first if he has confessed himself to you?”
Marta was speechless. She shook her head and stared blankly at her husband.
“Hmm. We feared it to be so. Thy husband is guilty of much and for his sins he must do a great and mighty penance else you shall bear God’s judgment. One of his dark secrets has been revealed—he has been unfaithful to you with another woman.”
Marta cursed and wheeled about with curled lips and a clenched fist. The man protested, “Nay, nay! I’ve been true to you, woman, I’ve—”
“Enough!” roared Werner. “Keep silent, for there is far more.”
Pious clutched his robes and lifted his pursed lips toward heaven. “Ah, ‘tis true. There is much more.” He laid his beaded, fat-pressed eyes on Heinrich. “Tell me, man, can you recite the seven deadly sins?”
Heinrich nodded.
“Then do so.”
The baker thought for a moment. His mind was spinning and he wanted to run away. “Anger, avarice, envy … gluttony … lust, pride, and sloth.”
“Well done. And can you recite the Ten Commandments?”
Heinrich did.
Pious nodded. “Seventeen warnings from God. And, one other, the most important of all?”
Heinrich shrugged.
“Love thy neighbor as thyself! Have you kept this one?”
The baker hung his head. Pious smiled. “Ah, perhaps you have loved thy neighbor’s … wife?”