On his choice between the two alternatives of going on, or going
back--which the closing of a door would decide--depended the future of
his life, and of other lives that were mingled with it.
He waited a minute undecided, for the warning Voices within him were
stronger than his own will: he waited, looking up thoughtfully at the
starry loveliness of the winter's night--then closed the door behind
him as softly as usual--hesitated again at the last step that led on to
the pavement--and then fairly set forth from home, walking at a rapid
pace through the streets.
He was not in his usual good spirits. He felt no inclination to sing as
was his wont, while passing through the fresh, frosty air: and he
wondered why it was so.
The Voices were still speaking faintly and more faintly within him. But
we must die before we can become immortal as they are; and their
language to us in this life is often as an unknown tongue.
BOOK II.
THE SEEKING.
CHAPTER I.
THE MAN WITH THE BLACK SKULL-CAP.
The Roman poet who, writing of vice, ascribed its influence entirely to
the allurement of the fair disguises that it wore, and asserted that it
only needed to be seen with the mask off to excite the hatred of all
mankind, uttered a very plausible moral sentiment, which wants nothing
to recommend it to the admiration of posterity but a seasoning of
practical truth.
Pages:
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286