Gracedieu had said nothing of Helena's infamous conduct to her sister, while he was speaking of Eunice? The way to the lost remembrance had perhaps been found there. In any case, after that bitter allusion to his 'wicked daughter' some result must follow. Helena Gracedieu and a day of reckoning might be nearer to each other already than I had ventured to hope.
I waited anxiously for what he might say to me next.
CHAPTER XXXVI. THE WANDERING MIND.
For the moment, the Minister disappointed me.
Without speaking, without even looking up, he took out his pocketbook, and began to write in it. Constantly interrupted either by a trembling in the hand that held the pencil, or by a difficulty (as I imagined) in expressing thoughts imperfectly realized—his patience gave way; he dashed the book on the floor.
'My mind is gone!' he burst out. 'Oh, Father in Heaven, let death deliver me from a body without a mind!'
Who could hear him, and be guilty of the cruelty of preaching self-control? I picked up the pocketbook, and offered to help him.
'Do you think you can?' he asked.
'I can at least try.'
'Good fellow! What should I do without you? See now; here is my difficulty. I have got so many things to say, I want to separate them—or else they will all run into each other. Look at the book,' my poor friend said mournfully; 'they have run into each other in spite of me.'
The entries proved to be nearly incomprehensible. Here and there I discovered some scattered words, which showed themselves more or less distinctly in the midst of the surrounding confusion. The first word that I could make out was 'Education.' Helped by that hint, I trusted to guess-work to guide me in speaking to him. It was necessary to be positive, or he would have lost all faith in me.
'Well?' he said impatiently.
'Well,' I answered, 'you have something to say to me about the education which you have given to your daughters.'
'Don't put them together!' he cried. 'Dear, patient, sweet Eunice must not be confounded with that she-devil —'
'Hush, hush, Mr. Gracedieu! Badly as Miss Helena has behaved, she is your own child.'
'I repudiate her, sir! Think for a moment of what she has done—and then think of the religious education that I have given her. Heartless! Deceitful! The most ignorant creature in the lowest dens of this town could have done nothing more basely cruel. And this, after years on years of patient Christian instruction on my part! What is religion? What is education? I read a horrible book once (I forget who was the author); it called religion superstition, and education empty form. I don't know; upon my word I don't know that the book may not—Oh, my tongue! Why don't I keep a guard over my tongue? Are you a father, too? Don't interrupt me. Put yourself in my place, and think of it. Heartless, deceitful, and
He had now wrought himself into a state of excitement, which relieved his spirits of the depression that had weighed on them up to this time. His harmless vanity, always, as I suspect, a latent quality in his kindly nature, had already restored his confidence. With a self-sufficient smile he consulted his own unintelligible entries, and made his own wild discoveries.
'Ah, yes; 'M' stands for Minister; I come first. Am I to blame? Am I—God forgive me my many sins—am I heartless? Am I deceitful?'
'My good friend, not even your enemies could say that!'
'Thank you. Who comes next?' He consulted the book again. 'Her mother, her sainted mother, comes next. People say she is like her mother. Was my wife heartless? Was the angel of my life deceitful?'
('That,' I thought to myself, 'is exactly what your wife was—and exactly what reappears in your wife's child.')
'Where does her wickedness come from?' he went on. 'Not from her mother; not from me; not from a neglected education.' He suddenly stepped up to me and laid his hands on my shoulders; his voice dropped to hoarse, moaning, awestruck tones. 'Shall I tell you what it is? A possession of the devil.'
It was so evidently desirable to prevent any continuation of such a train of thought as this, that I could feel no hesitation in interrupting him.
'Will you hear what I have to say?' I asked bluntly.
His humor changed again; he made me a low bow, and went back to his chair. 'I will hear you with pleasure,' he answered politely. 'You are the most eloquent man I know, with one exception—myself. Of course—myself.'
'It is mere waste of time,' I continued, 'to regret the excellent education which your daughter has misused.' Making that reply, I was tempted to add another word of truth. All education is at the mercy of two powerful counter-influences: the influence of temperament, and the influence of circumstances. But this was philosophy. How could I expect him to submit to philosophy? 'What we know of Miss Helena,' I went on, 'must be enough for us. She has plotted, and she means to succeed. Stop her.'
'Just my idea!' he declared firmly. 'I refuse my consent to that abominable marriage.'
In the popular phrase, I struck while the iron was hot. 'You must do more than that, sir,' I told him.
His vanity suddenly took the alarm—I was leading him rather too undisguisedly. He handed his book back to me. 'You will find,' he said loftily, 'that I have put it all down there.'
I pretended to find it, and read an imaginary entry to this effect: 'After what she has already done, Helena is capable of marrying in defiance of my wishes and commands. This must be considered and provided against.' So far, I had succeeded in flattering him. But when (thinking of his paternal authority) I alluded next to his daughter's age,
