A Servant of Satan: Romantic Career of Prado the Assassin — page 185: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

A SERVANT OF SATAN. 177 noble family, who would place her husband for once and allin the sphere to which he was born. He could then have left his career of adventurer far behind him, and lived the untrammeled life of a gentleman of means-and leisure, respected and honored by all. Men, according to the old Greeks, were the toys of the ~ gods, who, from their high estate in Olympus, put evil and foul instincts and desires into their mortal hearts, and then, when the eyil actions became the outlet of evil thoughts, amusea themselves by watching the fruitless efforts made by their victims to escape a cruel and merciless goddess, called Nemesis, who stood there ready to punish them. The gods may have enjoyed it, but how about the poor mor- tals? In these days of skepticism and unbelief we have dropped this deity, but only to replace her by another, whom we have christened Fate, and whom we use as a scape- goat upon which to lay the blame of our own shortcomings. The true religion of Fate, however, is that our lives are the outcome ot our actions. Every action, good or bad, has its corresponding reward—as Frederick found to his cost. He resolved to leave London without delay; but, fearing that if he traveled via Dover or Folkestone, he might meet a number of his English acquaintances, and thereby attract attention—a thing he particularly wished to avoid—he de- termined to take the train for Southampton that very after- noon, and thence to -proceed to St. Malo, on the coast of | Brittany. Before his departure, he wrote a long letter to Lady Kingsbury, informing her that to his great sorrow he had been called away by his only sister’s dangerous illness, and that, having no time to come and make his adieus in per- son, he begged her ladyship to remember him most grate- fully to the marquis, and to her son and daughters, whose kindness, as well as her own, he could never forget. He added that he hoped soon to be able to return to London, €oO Eomicbooks =)