That was how the truth about heaven and hell came to her. She had never
felt physical pain before, and eternal torment was merely an idea. From
that day, however, she was frightened and listened to her father gladly and
wept tears of thankfulness when, a month after her flogging, he explained
that he had wrestled with the Lord for her soul and how it had been borne
in upon him that she was saved alive. She had reached the age of seventeen
now, and felt quite confident upon the subject of eternity as became a
right Luke Gospeler. Unlike other women of the sect, however, and despite
extreme ignorance on all subjects, the girl had a seed of humor in her
nature only waiting circumstances to ripen. She felt pity, too, for the
great damned world, and though religion turned life sad-colored, her own
simple, healthy, animal nature and high spirits brought ample share of
sunshine and delight. She was, in fact, her mother's child rather than her
father's. His ancestors before him had fought the devil and lived honest
lives under a cloud of fear; Michael's own brother had gone religious mad,
when still a young man, and died in a lunatic asylum; indeed the awful
difficulty of saving his soul had been in the blood of every true Tregenza
for generations. But Joan's mother came of different stock. The Chirgwins
were upland people. They dwelt at Drift and elsewhere, went to the nearest
church, held simple views, and were content with orthodox religion.
Pages:
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43