Fool that I had been! I cursed my madness and the hour when I was born; never before had I heartily despised myself, never until now did I know how the lust for this treasure had eaten into my soul.

The secret, if secret indeed there were, and all were not a lie, was in the keeping of the silent Peak.
"I almost wept with wrath.

I tore the turf in my frenzy, and felt as one who would fain curse God and die.

But after a while my passion spent itself.

I sat up and reflected that after all my first direction might have been the right one; at any rate, I would try it again and explore it thoroughly.