Hawkstone Volume 1 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1848 edition. Excerpt: ...to look into the dark passage, but all was still and silent, and only the hooting of a solitary owl broke the breathless calm that reigned around them. The unhappy man sunk down and buried his faoe with his hands, till Villiers once more suggested his endeavoring to reach England. " England " said Macarthy, " where the prisoner is freed by the very touch of the soil on which he stands England, the refuge of the world " And he seemed to revive at the thought. " And our church," repeated Villiers, " is still open to you." " Yes," muttered Macarthy, " if it be true. And if truth bo found upon earth, I would fain hope that it is there, though at present all is dark around me. I can believe in nothing. I can only suspect and disbelieve;" and he heaved a deep groan. " Life and the world, and earth and heaven, are all a blank." " Will you not examine further and inquire?" asked Villiers, tenderly. "Inquire " cried Macarthy, with a bitter laugh of irony. " Have I not inquired once t And what has been the end?" And then, after a pause, he resumed, as if the possibility of so doing had dawned upon him. " And if I could inquire, where should I be meanwhile? Outcast, degraded, despised; rejected with suspicion by those to whom he comes, and persecuted even to the death by those whom he abandons; his heart broken; his mind distracted--friendless--without books--without support or guidance--shut out even from the channels of aid from God, if such there be; starving, perhaps, and destitute of all things;--you bid the wretch whom you have shaken from his faith, and tempted your own--you bid him inquire Villiers, is it not a mockery? Do you...