"
"Then you don't think a good God would care to punish poor wretches
like us?"
"Your lordship has not been in the habit of regarding himself as
a poor wretch. And, remember, you can't call a child a poor wretch
without insulting the father of it."
"That's quite another thing."
"But on the wrong side for your argument, seeing the relation between
God and the poorest creature is infinitely closer than that between
any father and his child."
"Then He can't be so hard on him as the parsons say."
"He will give him absolute justice, which is the only good thing. He
will spare nothing to bring his children back to Himself, their sole
well-being. What would you do, my lord, if you saw your son strike a
woman?"
"Knock him down and horsewhip him."
It was Mr. Graham who broke the silence that followed: "Are you
satisfied with yourself, my lord?"
"No, by God!"
"You would like to be better?"
"I would."
"Then you are of the same mind with God."
"Yes, but I'm not a fool. It won't do to say I should like to be. I
must be it, and that's not so easy. It's damned hard to be good. I
would have a fight for it, but there's no time. How is a poor devil to
get out of such an infernal scrape?"
"Keep the commandments."
"That's it, of course; but there's no time, I tell you--no time; at
least, so those cursed doctors will keep telling me."
"If there were but time to draw another breath, there would be time to
begin.
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