As he finished his narrative I observed he seemed about to relax into a morbid condition again.  To prevent this, I seized him kindly by the shoulder and exclaimed, “Friend, you must come with me.  Your life, your future welfare is imperiled.  You are like one shut up in a vault, breathing his own exhalations.  You do not understand the science of mind.”

“The science of mind?” said he.  “What have I to do with that?  ’Tis the curse of Cain resting upon me.  I cannot undo the evil that I have done.  I am an outcast!”

“The wrong you have done,” said I, “becomes doubly, trebly magnified by thus living it over day by day.  You have committed a crime.  Do you wish to perpetuate that crime?  You pursue the very course to make it permanent and enduring.  Mind acts upon matter and matter reacts upon mind.  You have made the house a partner to the deed you have committed by constantly associating it with the act.  You have tainted its walls and poisoned it within and without.

“It becomes sentient and reacts upon you.  It becomes a magnet, a loadstone to draw you.  Your constant habit of associating it in your mind with the past, creates around it an atmosphere which is a part of your being and welds you to it, so that you, the house, and the deed, become one mighty monster, inseparable.  The idea that you can expiate the deed by this self-torture is vain.  You can neither confer good upon yourself nor your victim.  Leave off and follow me.”

These last words seemed to have the desired effect, for he raised his eyes with a sad smile, placed his hand in mine, and said: 

“I will go with you.”

Happy that my efforts proved availing, I hurried on in a joyous mood, soon rising above the earth and bearing my companion to my spirit home.

The pure air of the fragrant fields revived him, and by the time we arrived at my own garden-home he seemed born into a new life.

I set him down under my arbor, now dripping with golden fruits, and having refreshed him with cordial (angels’ food), I called his attention to the beauties around us; the birds, the flowers, and the luxurious growth of nature, which shed such abundance around my home.

“See,” said I, “how nature works.  If the roots of the tree meet with obstacles they start off in another direction.  They do not wind and wind themselves around one spot.  If they did death would ensue.

“In every man’s life there are deeds to be regretted—­wrongs which he would gladly undo—­but painful imaginings and fruitless remorse will not set them right.  Only by being actively engaged in some nobler direction can atonement be made.

“This woman, whom you have injured, is in magnetic rapport with you; and while you are in this moody, self-denunciatory frame of mind, your restless, unhappy condition acts upon her, preventing her from becoming contented and happy; then her state reacts back upon you, and thus an evil equilibrium is maintained.”