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Temporal Power by Marie Corelli
page 92 of 730 (12%)
Sergius Thord laid one hand heavily on his shoulder.

"When the King--when any king--does anything useful in the world, then
you may hang me with your own hands, Zegota! When did you ever hear,
except in myths of the past, of a monarch who cared for his people more
than his crown? Tell me that! Tell me of any king who so truly loved
the people he was called upon to govern, that he sacrificed his own
money, as well as his own time, to remedy their wrongs?--to save them
from unjust government, to defend them from cruel taxation?--to see
that their bread was not taken from their mouths by foreign
competition?--and to make it possible for them to live in the country
of their birth in peace and prosperity? Bah! There never was such a
king! And that this man,--who has for three years left us to the mercy
of the most accursed cheat and scoundrel minister that ever was in
power,--has now declared his opposition to the Jesuits', is more than I
will or can believe."

"If it were true?"--suggested Zegota, with a more than usually vicious
tug at his beard.

"If it were true, it would not alter my opinion, or set aside my
intention," replied Thord,--"I would admit that the King had done one
good deed before going to hell! Look! Here come the future traitresses
of men--girls trained by priests to deceive their nearest and dearest!
Poor children! They know nothing as yet of the uses to which their
lives are destined! If they could but die now, in their innocent faith
and stupidity, how much better for all the world!"

As he spoke, the wind, swooping into the square, and accompanied by a
pattering gust of rain, fell like a fury upon the leaders of the
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