They would reject it because it does not seem to move rapidly, or
because it lacks a vigorous climax. The Goltva swollen in flood
lies under the Easter stars. As the monk Jerome ferries the
traveler over to where fire and cannon-shot and rocket announce
the rising of Christ to the riotous monastery, he asks, "Can you
tell me, kind master, why it is that even in the presence of great
happiness a man cannot forget his grief?" Deacon Nicholas is dead,
who alone in the monastery could write prayers that touched the
heart. And of them all, only Jerome read his "akaphists." "He used
to open the door of his cell and make me sit by him, and we used
to read....His face was compassionate and tender--" In the
monastery the countryside is crowding to hear the Easter service.
The choir sings "Lift up thine eyes, O Zion, and behold." But
Nicholas is dead, and there is none to penetrate the meaning of
the Easter canon, except Jerome who toils all night on the ferry
because they had forgotten him. In the morning, the traveler
recrosses the Goltva. Jerome is still on the ferry. He rests his
dim, timid eyes upon them all, and then fixes his gaze on the rosy
face of a merchant's wife.
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