“And yet made of its possessor a more upright and God-fearing citizen.”
“That is impossible.”
“You never could conceive of his being other than you see him now?”
“I could not.”
“Even if the indelible evidence were laid before you?”
“Evidence is never indelible to us. So-called facts have no worth in our eyes. We believe or we do not believe. Nothing changes our emotions; they are what we understand by religion.”
“You speak for wise and great women.”
“I speak for the humblest of wives and mothers who cannot accept credit for blind obedience to an instinct which alone gives her life.”
“I begin to understand why even the most imperious natures, which are as ruthless as volcanoes in action, cannot live without your aid. It is not that you enslave and fetter them; your function is to cleanse, renew, rehabilitate.”
As Northcote spoke a feeling of profound joy overspread the humiliation whose penalties had been far more grievous to him than those of despair. Hardly had he tasted it, however, than the nightmare at the back of his thoughts assumed a visible shape. Of a sudden there came a sharp screech from the curtain. Margaret, who throughout the conversation with his mother had been engaged in fixing pieces of holly over the photographs on the wall, was still employed in this decoration. It was not she who was responsible for the sudden shrieking of the brass rings along the curtain pole.