Quotation:
“He is a devil,–hard as the granite rock,–cold as the snows of Ararat. In him there is none of life’s warm blood,–he is accursed! He is false,–ay, false as the fables of those who lie for love of lies,–he is all treachery. Her whom he has taken to his bosom he would put away from him as if she had never been,–he would steal from her like a thief in the night,–he would forget she ever was! But the avenger follows after, lurking in the shadows, hiding among the rocks, waiting, watching, till his time shall come. And it shall come!–the day of the avenger!–ay, the day!” (64)
Comment:
This quote comes from chapter 5, “An Instruction to Commit Burglary,” when the strange creature that Robert Holt was mesmerized by explains why Holt was to steal from Paul Lessingham. This explanation is very vague, essentially just stating that he is a bad person. Other characters also have a dislike for Lessingham, and it seems like they all have similar reasons for feeling this way: Marjorie Lindon. Every character that hates Paul Lessingham does so because they don’t want him to marry Marjorie either because they want to marry her, as in Mr. Atherton, or because they don’t want her to get caught up in his politics, like Marjorie’s father. The way Lessingham’s horridness is talked about in such an nondescript way suggests that every character already knows how he got to be this way, and that there is no need for the reader to question it, though I feel that is exactly what we are supposed to do. Also, everyone’s behavior thus far makes me wonder if Lessingham is actually as bad as everyone says or if they are all just upset about the marriage.
Question:
What, if anything, did Paul Lessingham do to be called “a devil” and what does this have to do with him marrying Marjorie Lindon?
