Are you conscious of having given this matter--so serious a matter for
you--sufficient thought?"
Make your mind easy, reverend sir! Romayne's answer set everything
right.
He said: "I have thought of it till I could think no longer. I still
believe that sweet woman might control the torment of the voice. But
could she deliver me from the remorse perpetually gnawing at my heart? I
feel as murderers feel. In taking another man's life--a man who had not
even injured me!--I have committed the one unatonable and unpardonable
sin. Can any human creature's influence make me forget that? No more of
it--no more. Come! Let us take refuge in our books."
Those words touched Penrose in the right place. Now, as I understand his
scruples, he felt that he might honorably speak out. His zeal more than
balanced his weakness, as you will presently see.
He was loud, he was positive, when I heard him next. "No!" he burst
out, "your refuge is not in books, and not in the barren religious forms
which call themselves Protestant. Dear master, the peace of mind, which
you believe you have lost forever, you will find again in the divine
wisdom and compassion of the holy Catholic Church.
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