"Why am I ever forced to remember what I would fain forget?" Sir
Archie asked himself. "It is as though someone were always
stealing behind me and whispering in my ear.

"It is as though someone were weaving a net about me," said Sir
Archie, "to catch all my own thoughts and leave me none but this.
I cannot see the pursuer who casts the net, but I can hear his
step as he comes stealing after me."

"It is as though a painter went before me and painted the same
picture wherever my eyes may rest," said Sir Archie. "Whether I
look to heaven or to earth I see naught else but this one thing."

"It is as though a mason sat within my heart and chiselled out the
same heavy care," said Sir Archie. "I cannot see this mason, but
day and night I can hear the blows of his mallet as he hammers at
my heart. 'Heart of stone, heart of stone,' he says, 'now you
shall yield. Now I shall hammer into you a lasting care.'"

Sir Archie had two friends, Sir Philip and Sir Reginald, who
followed him wherever he went. They were grieved that he was
always cast down and that nothing could avail to cheer him.

"What is it that ails you?" they would say. "What makes your eyes
burn so, and why are your cheeks so pale?"

Sir Archie would not tell them what it was that tormented him. He
thought: "What would my comrades say of me if they knew I yielded
to these unmanly thoughts? They would no longer obey me if they
found out that I was racked with remorse for a deed there was no