It is the constant temptation of the human heart.
I have ever warned you against it, as I myself have prayed to be kept
from its devices--alas! how futilely at times. Vanity leads to
imposture, and imposture to the wronging of others. But if a man repent,
and yield all he has, to pay the high price of his bitter mistake, he may
thereby redeem himself even in this world. If he give his life
repenting, and if the giving stays the evil he might have wrought,
shall we be less merciful than God?
"My children" (he did not mention Valmond's name), "his last act was
manly; his death was pious; his sin was forgiven. Those rifle bullets
that brought him down let out all the evil in his blood.
"We, my people, have been delivered from a grave error. Forgetting--
save for our souls' welfare--the misery of this vanity which led us
astray, let us remember with gladness all of him that was commendable in
our eyes: his kindness, eloquence, generous heart, courage, and love of
Mother Church. He lies in our graveyard; he is ours; and, being ours,
let us protect his memory, as though he had not sought us a stranger,
but was of us: of our homes, as of our love, and of our sorrow.
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