THE INNOCENCE OF FATHER BROWN
writing an Oriental romance about wizardry and hypnotism. He"
At this moment the door opened briskly behind them, and the doctor came out with his hat on. He put a long envelope into the priest's hands.
"That's the document you wanted," he said, "and I must be getting home. Good night."
"Good night," said Father Brown, as the doctor walked briskly to the gate. He had left the front door open, so that a shaft of gaslight fell upon them. In the light of this Brown opened the envelope and read the following words:
Dear Father Brown,—Vicisti Galilæe. Otherwise, damn your eyes, which are very penetrating ones. Can it be possible that there is something in all that stuff of yours after all?
I am a man who has ever since boyhood believed in Nature and in all natural functions and instincts, whether men called them moral or immoral. Long before I became a doctor, when I was a schoolboy keeping mice and spiders, I believed that to be a good animal is the best thing in the world. But just now I am shaken; I have believed in Nature; but it seems as if Nature could betray a man. Can there be anything in your bosh? I am really getting morbid.
I loved Quinton's wife. What was there wrong in that? Nature told me to, and it’s love
198
