"
"I _am_ distrustful--too much so," answered, in writing, the deaf man.
"A little suspicion soon overspreads the whole nature, and yet, I think,
one can be generous even with suspicion. Among the disciples were a
traitor, a liar, a coward, and a doubter; but none upbraid the last,
poor Thomas, and he is sainted in our faith. Do you know that suspicion
made me deaf? Yes; if we mock Nature with distrust, she stops our ears.
Do you not remember what happened to Zacharias, the priest? He would not
believe the angel who announced that his wife would soon become a
mother, and for his unbelief was stricken dumb!"
The deaf guest had either stumbled into this illustration, or written it
with full design. He looked at Agnes, and the pale and purple colors
came and went upon her face as she bent her body forward over the table.
Duff Salter arose and spoke with that lost voice, like one in a vacuum,
while he folded his tablet.
"Agnes," he said, "it has been cruel to a man of such a sceptical soul
as mine to educate him back from the faith he had acquired to the
unfaith he had tried to put behind him. Why did you do it? The
suppression of the truth is never excusable. The secret you might have
scattered with a word, when suspicion started against you, is now
diffused through every family and rendezvous in Kensington.
Pages:
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231