"Let there be no man to pity him, nor to have compassion upon his
fatherless children.... Let his children be vagabonds, and beg
their bread; let them seek it also out of desolate places." Psalm
cix. So saith the Lord. Amen.'
'I have printed the English version in large letters,' he said, 'so
that any would-be despoiler must see it and read it at once by the
dimmest lantern light.'
'But, father,' I said, 'is it possible that you, an educated man,
really believe in the efficacy of a curse?'
'If the curse comes straight from the heart's core of a man, as this
curse comes from mine, Hal, how can it fail to operate by the mere
force of will? The curse of a man who loved as I love upon the wretch
who should violate a love-token so sacred as this--why, the
disembodied spirits of all who have loved and suffered would combine
to execute it!'
'Spirits!' I said. 'Really, father, in times like these to talk of
spirits!'
'Ah, Henry!' he replied, 'I was like you once. I could once be
content with Materialism--I could find it supportable once; but,
should you ever come to love as I have loved (and, for your own
happiness, child, I hope you never may), you will And that
Materialism is intolerable, is hell itself, to the heart that has
known a passion like mine.
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