Explore "The Man with a Secret" by Fergus Hume on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Strong god thou art the enemy of gods, A hater of blind Eros and his joys, Thy rule is bitter as the stinging rods That scourge at Dian's feast the Spartan boys; Evil his soul who asks thine evil aid, And in revenge such evil aid employs, In sundering the hearts of youth and maid.
The Garsworth family was never a very prolific one, but the estates had always descended in a direct line from father to son. Many a time the race seemed to be on the point of extinction owing to the representative being an only child, yet though the line dwindled down to depending on one life alone for its continuity it never absolutely died out. In the event of such a thing taking place it would have been difficult to say who would have succeeded to the estates, as the Garsworth family seemed to be averse to matrimony and their connection with the county families was, to say the least, doubtful. Besides, as there was no entail, the estates were completely at the disposal of the head of the family for the time being, and he could will them to whomsoever he pleased.