"It has nothing to do with forgiveness. You are forgiven; but what comes after is our duty to our Creator, who orders us to avoid evil and all those damned to ever-lasting fire."
"Are you speaking for yourself alone?" he asked.
"No. I'm speaking for my husband and family—my children and my grandchildren. By the will of God a lost soul, such as you are, can be suffered to breed saved souls. That's a mystery; but so it happens. And when your children come of age, they'll be faced with their duty; and they'll see it very clear indeed. Now I'll ask you to go; and it will be better, when you have dealings with the post-office, to send a messenger and never come again yourself so long as we remain here."
She spoke slowly and without emotion. Jacob looked at his father-in-law.
"And do you say ditto to this devilish speech?" he asked.
"Ditto to every word of it," answered Barlow. "And so would any man who sees his wronged child wilting like a flower, and marks her bitter sufferings and ruined home and broken heart. And——"
"That's enough," interrupted Mrs. Huxam. "That's nothing to him. Tell him to go."
Jacob Bullstone did not speak and left the post-office immediately.
He began to grasp the situation at last, and surveyed his futile ambitions since the trial.
"Time won't be balked," he thought. "I was all wrong and stand worse off than when I started."