We had returned
to the preventive measures of centuries ago, much as they were practised
in the time of the Great Plague.
But how could I send my daughter to one of those dreadful pest-pits,
there at the moment of struggle to be a standing advertisement of the
utter failure and falsity of the system I had preached, backing my
statements with the wager of her life? Moreover, to do so would be to
doom myself to defeat at the poll, since under our byelaws, which were
almost ferocious in their severity, I could no longer appear in public
to prosecute my canvass, and, if my personal influence was withdrawn,
then most certainly my adversary would win.
Oh, truly I who had sown bounteously was reaping bounteously. Truly the
birds which I had sent out on their mission of evil had come home to
roost upon my roof-tree.
CHAPTER XIII
HARVEST
Another five days went by--to me they were days of most unspeakable
doubt and anguish. Each morning at breakfast I waited for the coming of
Jane with an anxiety which was all the more dreadful because I forced
myself to conceal it. There had been no further conversation between us
about the matter that haunted both our minds, and so fearful was I lest
she should divine my suspense that except in the most casual way I did
not even dare to look at her as she entered the room.
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