— XIV —
All confused I could not know
Whether I suffered, or I did:
For all seemed guilt, remorse, or woe,
My own or others, still the same
Life-stilling fear, soul-stifling shame.
—Coleridge
For some time after recognising the unpalatable fact that the idol possessed a “homing instinct” far surpassing that of the most domestic cat, Campion sat and stared at it with blank and intense disgust. It would take no hints and offer no suggestions; it was only too easy to offend it, and apparently impossible to get rid of it. Willingly would Campion have exchanged it for Frankenstein’s much-quoted monster, for from that creature you knew the worst to expect; and it had the tact to absent itself for considerable periods. But none could say what this petrified enigma wanted, or how far it wou
