As soon as the service was over, Martens left the altar and hurried into the sacristy, into which he had already seen the dean enter.

“What do you say to that, sir?” he cried breathlessly, as he shut the door after him.

Dean Sparre was sitting in his armchair, reading the hymn-book he had in his hand.  At the chaplain’s question he raised his head with an expression of mild reproof at the disturbance, and said abstractedly, “To what are you alluding?”

“Why, the sermon; of course I allude to the sermon; it is perfectly scandalous!” cried the chaplain, excitedly.

“Well, certainly,” answered the dean, “I cannot say that it was a good sermon, taken as a whole, but if you take into consideration—­”

“But really, sir—­” interrupted the chaplain.

“It appears to me, and it is not the first time I have noticed it, my dear Martens, that you do not quite get on with our new fellow-worker; but is it not to us that he ought really to look for support?”

The chaplain cast down his eyes; there was some extraordinary power about his superior.  Not an instant before he had formed his opinion quite clearly, but the moment he found himself face to face with the dean’s genial countenance, all his ideas seemed to change.

“It grieves me to be obliged to speak to you thus, my dear Martens, but I do so with the best intentions; and, then, we are alone.”

“But don’t you think, sir, that he was far too bold?” asked the chaplain.

“Yes, clearly, clearly so,” assented the dean, in a friendly tone.  “He was unguarded, like all beginners; perhaps the most unguarded I have heard.  But then we know quite well that the same thing often occurred in our own time.  It would be quite unreasonable to expect the Spirit’s full maturity in the young.”

This remark caused Martens involuntarily to think of his own first attempt.  He answered, however, “But he maintained that we ministers, above all others, are living a life of falsehood, shut in by meaningless forms.”

“Exaggeration! a wild and dangerous exaggeration!  In that I quite agree with you, my dear Martens.  But, on the other hand, which of us can deny that a ceremonial, be it ever so beautiful and full of meaning, still in the course of time, when it is frequently repeated, loses something of its influence over us?  But who will dare cast the first stone?  Is it not youth, as we see, who has not yet experienced the wear of that continuous labour which strives to be true to the end?  And then naturally we get exaggeration—­dangerous exaggeration.  But,” continued the dean, “before everything, let us agree to look upon his sermon in the right light, for the opinion of many will be formed upon ours, and if we now allow this young man to slip out of our hands he will, likely enough, be entirely lost for the good work; and I must say I have great hopes of him.  I feel sure that in his right place, which would be in a large town—­for instance, in Christiania—­he will make a name for himself in the Church, and I venture to think that his labours will bear abundant fruit.”