"Crush me!" he exclaimed, "crush me, indeed! Wait a little. What have I
been doin' all this time? I tell you that I have been every day for this
many a long year windin' myself like a serpent about him, till I get him
fairly in my power; and when I do--then for one sharp, deadly sting
into his heart:--ay, and, like the serpent, it's in my tongue that
sting lies--from that tongue the poison must come that will give me the
revenge that I've been long waitin' for."
"You speak," replied the priest, "and, indeed, you look more like
an evil spirit than a man, Anthony. This language is disgraceful and
unchristian, and such as no human being should utter. How can you think
of death with such principles in your heart?"
"I'll tell you how I think on death: I'm afeared of it when I think of
that poor, heartbroken woman, Lady Gourlay; but when I think of him--of
him--I do hope and expect that my last thought in this world will be the
delightful one that I've had my revenge on him."
"And you would risk the misery of another world for the gratification
of one evil passion in this! Oh, God help you, and forgive you, and turn
your heart!"
"God help me, and forgive me, and turn my heart! but not so far as he is
consarned.
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