“Oh no; not real like that; not clothed in flesh; but still real, so far as power to harm you is concerned: and surely that is reality enough. Don’t you think so?”
“Yes, real that way. But still,” Alfred said, “I can’t understand how a real wolf can be in me; for a wolf is much bigger than I am.”
“But I don’t mean a flesh and blood wolf, but something in you that partakes of the wolf’s cruel nature, and, like the wolf, seeks to destroy all in you that is good, and harmless, and innocent. There may be in you something that corresponds to the fierce nature of the wolf, and something that corresponds to the gentle nature of the lamb. Both of these cannot be active at the same time. If you let the wolf rule, your gentle lambs, as I before told you, will be destroyed.”
The children now understood their mother better, though they could not clearly comprehend all that was meant by the wild beasts and innocent creatures of the human heart.
The Double Fault.
“WHY, Arthur,” exclaimed Mrs. Mason, on coming into the room where she had left her two boys playing, and finding one of them there with a bunch of flowers in his hand; “how came you to pull my flowers? Haven’t I positively forbidden you to do so?”
“I did not do it, mother. I did not do it. It was John.”