y the Lord's Prayer.' He went steadily until he came to the
words, 'Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass
against us.'"

"'I can't say the words,' he groaned.

"'Say them with all your heart and the curse will be taken away,' said
the vicar.

"My father tried again and succeeded, and no sooner had he done so than
the light changed and a holy calm rested upon us all.

"'It's gone,' said my father. 'May God bless you, Roger, and do you
never forget the Trewinion's warning.'

"By this he meant the lines we have been reading.

"'I will never forget, father,' I said, and soon after he died happily."

My father left me then, placing in my hands the old nurse's lines. For
a long time I mused over what he had said, and wondered about my
grandfather's death-bed scene. Was it as my father had said? Was it
Trewinion's curse that rested upon him? I began to think of what the
vicar, my schoolmaster, had told us only the day before--that every sin
brought a curse, brought misery, brought remorse, and while sin or
unforgiveness was cherished in our hearts we could not realise
happiness or forgiveness. Was this the case with my grandfather, or
was my father's belief right?

The interview made a deep impression upon me, however, and a great awe
rested on me for days. I felt that as the heir of the Trewinions I was
surrounded by terrible powers, and I did not know whether they were
good or evil. So my young mind was fed, and so my imagination was
stimulated.

What was to be my future? What had the powers which took such an
interest in my race in store for me? Looking back over the years that
are gone I ask, Were the things told me superstitious fancies, or is
the Trewinion curse a reality? Remembering what has happened between
then and now, I dare not answer the question.

CHAPTER II

THE WITCH'S WARNING

_Ban._ The earth hath bubbles, as the water has, and these are
of them. Whither are they vanished?
_Macbeth._ Into the air; and what seemed corporal, melted,
As a breath of wind. Would they had stayed!
_Ban._ Were there such things here as we do speak about?
Or have we eaten up the root
That makes the reason prisoner?
_Macbeth_, Act. I, Scene 3.

Let it not be supposed that Wilfred and I ever had any quarrels, at any
rate before my fifteenth birthday. I do not remember even one. This,
however, wa