Page:The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (emended first edition), Volume 3.djvu/246

236 hell-fire, catch you lifting a finger to serve me then!—No, you'll look complacently on, and not so much as dip the tip of your finger in water to cool my tongue!"

"If so, it will be because of the great gulf over which I cannot pass; and if I could look complacently on in such a case, it would be only from the assurance that you were being purified from your sins, and fitted to enjoy the happiness I felt.—But are you determined, Arthur, that I shall not meet you in Heaven?"

"Humph! What should I do there, I should like to know?"

"Indeed, I cannot tell; and I fear it is too certain that your tastes and feelings must be widely altered before you can have any enjoyment there. But do you prefer sinking, without an effort, into the state of torment you picture to yourself?"

"Oh, it's all a fable;" said he, contemptuously.

"Are you sure, Arthur? are you quite sure?