You will And that it is madness, Hal,
madness, to believe in the word "never"! you will And that you
_dare_ not leave untried any creed, howsoever wild, that offers
the heart a ray of hope. Every object she cherished has become
spiritualised, sublimated, has become alive--alive as this amulet
is alive. See, the lights are no natural lights.' And again he held
it up.
'If on my death-bed,' he continued, 'I thought that this beloved
cross and these sacred relics would ever get into other hands--would
ever touch other flesh--than mine, I should die a maniac, Hal, and my
spirit would never be released from the chains of earth.' It was the
superstitious tone of his talk that irritated and hardened me. He saw
it, and a piteous expression overspread his features.
'Don't desert your poor father,' he said. 'What I want is the word
of an Aylwin that those beloved relics shall be buried with me. If I
had _that_, I should be content to live, and content to die. Oh,
Hal!'
He threw such an imploring gaze into my face as he said 'Oh, Hal!'
that, reluctant as I was to be mixed up with superstition, I promised
to execute his wishes; I promised also to keep the secret from all
the world during his life, and after his death to share it with those
two only from whom, for family reasons, it could not be kept--my
uncle Aylwin of Alvanley and my mother.
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