Before complying Pierre squinted about short-sightedly, uneasy and suddenly assailed by doubt. ‘Where am I? What am I doing? Aren’t they laughing at me? Shall I be embarrassed to look back on this?’ But the misgivings were short-lived. Pierre examined the serious faces of the people surrounding him, thought of everything he had just gone through and realized he couldn’t stop half-way. He was horrified by his doubt and in a new attempt to evoke his earlier feeling of devotion he prostrated himself at the gates of the temple. And then the devotional feeling really did sweep over him, more strongly than ever. After lying there for some time he was told to get up and a white leather apron like everyone else’s was put around him, and a trowel and three pairs of gloves were placed in his hands. And then the Grand Master addressed him. He told him he must try never to stain the whiteness of that apron, which stood as a symbol of strength and purity. Then he spoke of the unexplained trowel, saying that he must labour with it to scour all vice from his heart and to smooth the hearts of his fellow men with good grace. Then he turned to the first pair of gloves, a man’s, and told him he could not know their significance, but must safeguard them; the second pair were to be put on at meetings, and as to the third pair, they were women’s gloves, and he said of them, ‘Dear brother, these woman’s gloves are yours too. Give them to the woman whom you shall honour beyond all others. This gift will serve as a token of your purity of heart for the one woman you shall take unto yourself as a worthy helpmeet within masonry.’ After a brief pause he added, ‘But take care, dear brother, that these gloves never adorn hands that are unclean.’
As the Grand Master was pronouncing these last words, Pierre sensed embarrassment in him. He felt even more embarrassed himself, blushing like a child, on the point of tears, looking about him uneasily, and an awkward silence ensued.
The silence was broken by one of the brothers, who took Pierre over to the carpet and began reading from a note-book to interpret all the figures depicted on it: the sun, the moon, the gavel, the plumb-line, the trowel, the rough stone and the squared stone, the pillar, the three windows, and so on. Then Pierre was shown his assigned place and the signs of the lodge, told the password, and at long last allowed to sit down. The Grand Master began reading the statutes. These were very drawn out and Pierre in his joy, exhilaration and embarrassment was hardly in a state to take in what was being read. He managed to concentrate on just the last words of the statutes and these stuck in his memory.
‘In our temples we acknowledge no degrees,’ read the Grand Master, ‘other than that between virtue and vice. Beware of making any distinction that may infringe equality. Fly to assist any brother whoever he may be, exhort him that goeth astray, raise him up that falleth and foster no malice or hatred towards any brother. Be thou kindly and courteous. In all hearts kindle the fire of virtue. Share thy happiness with thy neighbour, and allow no envy to mar the purity of that bliss. Forgive thine enemy, seek not to avenge thyself on him but by doing him good. By this fulfilment of the highest law thou shalt recover some traces of the ancient dignity thou hast lost.’ When he had finished, he rose, took Pierre in an embrace and kissed him.
Pierre looked around with tears of joy in his eyes, not knowing how to respond to the congratulations and greetings coming from old acquaintances who now surrounded him. He recognized no one as an acquaintance; in all of these men he saw only brothers, and he burnt with impatience to start working with them. The Grand Master then rapped with his gavel, all of them sat down in their places and one brother began reading an exhortation on the need for humility.
The Grand Master proposed that the last duty be performed, and the important dignitary who bore the title ‘Collector of Alms’ began to go round all the brotherhood. Pierre felt like signing away all the money he possessed, but he thought that might look like pride, so he subscribed the same amount as everyone else.
The session was over, and Pierre, when he got back home, had a sense of returning from a long journey which had lasted dozens of years. He was a different man, who had renounced his old habits and his former way of life.
CHAPTER 5
