The reader has already learned that the penalties of utter stupidity were not unknown to the unwritten law of the Wittem studentate, notwithstanding that the young men were devout religious; and hence Brother Hecker must have had many hours of anguish.

But we cannot suppose that his native cheerfulness was quite suppressed.

His dulness of mind was accompanied, or rather was the result of, the close embraces of Divine love.

It was the bitter part of that intimate communion with God which is granted to chosen souls.
No doubt he was profoundly humiliated by the disgrace involved in his failure to study, but he was willing to suffer that external degradation which was the complement of and the means of emphasizing, the teaching of the Holy Spirit in his interior, as well as the means of purifying his soul more and more perfectly.

In after years he related an instance of his lightness of heart, a natural quality which he shared with his companion, Brother Walworth.