G. K. Chesterton

“ And all because a bullet went wrong.”
“Really, Father Brown,” said General Outram, “do you honestly think he deserves this? Is that your Christianity?”
“Surely the true Christianity,” pleaded his wife more gently, “is that which knows all and pardons all; the love that can remember—and forget.”
“Father Brown,” said young Mallow, very earnestly, “I generally agree with what you say; but I'm hanged if I can follow you here. A shot in a duel, followed instantly by remorse, is not such an awful offense.” ”

“ If it were only people like you and the General, it might be only a private matter; but if Sir John Cockspur is going to spread some sort of scare in his papers—well, he's a Toronto Orangeman, and we can hardly keep out of it.”
“But what will you say about it?” asked Mallow anxiously.
“The first thing I should say about it,” said Father Brown, “is that, as you tell it, it doesn't sound like life. Suppose, for the sake of argument, that we are all pessimistic vampires blighting all human happiness. ”

“ But it struck me that he might himself want to wear a monk's hood or even a mask. I had heard of him as a mourner, and then as a murderer; but already I had hazy suspicions that his reason for hiding might not only be concerned with what he was, but with who he was.
“Then came the general's vivid description of the duel; and the most vivid thing in it to me was the figure of Mr. Romaine in the background; it was vivid because it was in the background. Why did the general leave behind him on the sand a dead man, whose friend stood yards away from him like a stock or a stone? ”

“ Why should we entangle a man again in an old family tie just when he showed signs of getting loose from it? Surely it's a little unfair to charge us both with crushing such affection and encouraging such infatuation. ”

“ I've heard that he wears a mask because he's a leper. But somebody else told me quite seriously that there's a curse on the family—a child, born with some frightful deformity, that's kept in a dark room.”
“The Marquis of Marne has three heads,” remarked Romaine quite gravely. “Once in every three hundred years a three-headed nobleman adorns the family tree. No human being dares approach the accursed house except a silent procession of hatters, sent to provide an abnormal number of hats. ”

“ But there came into his great gray eyes a certain expression that has been seen in the eyes of many men in many centuries through the story of nineteen hundred years—only the men were not generally sitting on floors, but at council tables or on the seats of chapters or the thrones of bishops and cardinals—a far-off, watchful look, heavy with the humility of a charge too great for men. ”

“ I wanted at least to have a surgeon, but Maurice boisterously refused it, saying the fewer people who knew, the better, and at the worst we could immediately get help. 'There's a doctor in the village not half a mile away,' he said; 'I know him and he's got the fastest horse in the country. He could be brought here in no time; but there's no need to bring him here till we know.' Well, we all knew that Maurice ran most risk, as the pistol was not his weapon; so when he refused aid nobody liked to ask for it. The duel was fought on a flat stretch of sand on the east coast of Scotland ”

“ And I understand from my friend Mr. Mallow, whom I think you know, that Sir John is going to print some scorching anti-clerical articles founded on what he would call the Marne Mystery—“Monks Drive Marquis Mad,' etc.”
“If he is,” replied the general, “I don't see why you should come to me about it. I ought to tell you I'm a strong Protestant.”
“I'm very fond of strong Protestants,” said Father Brown. “I came to you because I was sure you would tell the truth. I hope it is not uncharitable to feel less sure of Sir John Cockspur.”
The brown eyes twinkled again, but the general said nothing. ”

“ James Mair, already broken with remorse, rushed across to the fallen man and bent over to lift him up. He had thrown away his pistol like an unclean thing; but Maurice's pistol still lay under his hand and it was undischarged. Then as the elder man bent over the younger, the younger lifted himself on his left arm and shot the elder through the body. ”

“ For it seems to me that you only pardon the sins that you don't really think sinful. You only forgive criminals when they commit what you don't regard as crimes, but rather as conventions. So you tolerate a conventional duel, just as you tolerate a conventional divorce. You forgive because there isn't anything to be forgiven.”
“But, hang it all,” cried Mallow, “you don't expect us to be able to pardon a vile thing like this?”
“No,” said the priest ”

“ Since you insist, I will tell you one or two of the things that made me think so.
“First, it was stated that James Mair was engaged to be married, but somehow became unattached again after the death of Maurice Mair. Why should an honorable man break off his engagement merely because he was depressed by the death of a third party? He's much more likely to have turned for consolation to it; but, anyhow, he was bound in decency to go through with it.”
The general was biting his black mustache and his brown eyes had become very watchful and even anxious ”

“ Our people might possibly, in certain cases, encourage a man to go regularly into a monastery, but certainly not to hang about in a medieval castle. In the same way, they certainly wouldn't want him to dress up as a monk when he wasn't a monk. ”

“ Wouldn't you get on the track of the truth, at all costs to anybody? Well, I have a regiment and I belong to an army. It is being discredited by what I am certain is a fictitious story; but I don't know the true story. Can you blame me for trying to find it out?”
The soldier was silent, and the priest continued.
“I have heard the story Mallow was told yesterday, about Marne retiring with a broken heart through the death of his more than brother. I am sure there was more in it than that. I came to ask you if you know any more.”
“No,” said the General shortly. “I cannot tell you any more.” ”

“ The rest of the company had risen and stood staring down at the narrator with pale faces. “Are you sure of this?” asked Sir John at last, in a thick voice.
“I am sure of it,” said Father Brown, “and now I leave Maurice Mair, the present Marquis of Marne, to your Christian charity. You have told me something to-day about Christian charity. You seemed to me to give it almost too large a place; but how fortunate it is for poor sinners like this man that you err so much on the side of mercy, and are ready to be reconciled to all mankind.”
“Damn it all!” exploded the general ”

“ The only figure that came out of the cavernous castle doorway was the short and shabby figure of Father Brown.
[Illustration: THE TALL LADY CAME FACE TO FACE WITH THE MARQUIS OF MARNE]
“Look here,” he said, in his simple, bothered fashion. “I told you you'd much better leave him alone. He knows what he's doing and you'll only make everybody unhappy.”
Lady Outram, who was accompanied by a tall and quietly dressed lady, still very handsome, presumably the original Miss Grayson, looked at the little priest with cold contempt. ”

“ A moment later the dark dome cracked across with thunder, and the statue seemed to come to life. He turned his head over his shoulder and said casually, “About a minute and half between the flash and the bang; but I think the storm's coming nearer. A tree is not supposed to be a good umbrella for the lightning, but we shall want it soon for the rain. I think it will be a deluge.”
The young man glanced at the lady a little anxiously and said: “Can't we get shelter anywhere? There seems to be a house over there.”
“There is a house over there,” remarked the general, rather grimly ”