You would have me believe against the evidence of
my senses!"
"You must have strange senses, Mr. Redmain, that give you
evidence where they can't possibly know anything! If that man
spoke the truth when he was in the world, he is near us now; if
he is not near us, there is an end of it all."
"The nearer he is, the worse for me!" sighed Mr. Redmain.
"The nearer he is, the better for the worst man that ever
breathed."
"That's queer doctrine! Mind you, I don't say it mayn't be all
right. But it does seem a cowardly thing to go asking him to save
you, after you've been all your life doing what ought to damn
you--if there be a hell, mind you, that is."
"But think," said Mary, "if that should be your only chance of
being able to make up for the mischief you have done? No
punishment you can have will do anything for that. No suffering
of yours will do anything for those you have made suffer. But it
is so much harder to leave the old way than to go on and let
things take their chance!"
"There may be something in what you say; but still I can't see it
anything better than sneaking, to do a world of mischief, and
then slink away into heaven, leaving all the poor wretches to
look after themselves."
"I don't think Jesus Christ is worse pleased with you for feeling
like that," said Mary.
"Eh? What? What's that you say?--Jesus Christ worse pleased with
me? That's a good one! As if he ever thought about a fellow like
me!"
"If he did not, you would not be thinking about him just this
minute, I suspect.
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