Before I left, my father's heart softened much towards me, for
he remembered that I was my mother's best beloved, and feared also lest
we should meet no more. So much did it soften indeed, that at the last
hour he changed his mind and wished to hold me back from going. But
having put my hand to the plough and suffered all the bitterness
of farewell, I would not return to be mocked by my brother and my
neighbours. 'You speak too late, father,' I said. 'You desired me to go
to work this vengeance and stirred me to it with many bitter words, and
now I would go if I knew that I must die within a week, for such oaths
cannot be lightly broken, and till mine is fulfilled the curse rests on
me.'
'So be it, son,' he answered with a sigh. 'Your mother's cruel death
maddened me and I said what I may live to be sorry for, though at the
best I shall not live long, for my heart is broken. Perhaps I should
have remembered that vengeance is in the hand of the Lord, who wreaks
it at His own time and without our help. Do not think unkindly of me, my
boy, if we should chance to meet no more, for I love you, and it was but
the deeper love that I bore to your mother which made me deal harshly
with you.'
'I know it, father, and bear no grudge. But if you think that you owe me
anything, pay it by holding back my brother from working wrong to me and
Lily Bozard while I am absent.
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