Page:The Man Who Died Twice (1924).djvu/48

 Credulity, dismayed imaginably

In retrospect, extenuating warrant

To hang itself conveniently at leisure,—

Only Fernando Nash’s narrative

Will now avail me for the confirmation

Of more, I fear, than the confirmable—

As he would have foretold. Reverting quaintly

And incompatibly with his arrogance

To the weak stings of his inferiors,

And even while dying, he smiled. “Poor souls,” he said,

“That are born damned, although they may be feared

May be forgiven, though hated, and then hanged;

Whereas my early colleagues, had they known

How soon and surely I was to damn myself,

Not only would have ceased their fearing me,