"
"That is the worst of it!" murmured the earl. "I refuse, I avoid
such acknowledgment! Who knows whither it might carry me, or what it
might not go on to demand of me!"
He spoke like one unaware that he spoke.
"Yes, my lord," said Donal, "that is how most men treat the greatest
things! The devil blinds us that he may guide us!"
"The devil!--bah!" cried his lordship, glad to turn at right angles
from the path of the conversation; "you don't surely believe in that
legendary personage?"
"He who does what the devil would have him do, is the man who
believes in him, not he who does not care whether he is or not, so
long as he avoids doing his works. If there be such a one, his last
thought must be to persuade men of his existence! He is a subject I
do not care to discuss; he is not very interesting to me. But if
your lordship now would but overcome the habit of depending on
medicine, you would soon find out that you had a free will."
His lordship scowled like a thunder-cloud.
"I am certain, my lord," added Donal, "that the least question asked
by the will itself, will bring an answer; a thousand asked by the
intellect, will bring nothing."
"I did not send for you to act the part of father confessor, Mr.
Grant," said his lordship, in a tone which rather perplexed Donal;
"but as you have taken upon you the office, I may as well allow you
keep it; the matter to which you refer, that of my medical treatment
of myself, is precisely what has brought me into my present
difficulty.
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