H. Rider Haggard / HRider Haggard
'I have my idol,' said his uncle, 'and it has made me forget my sister and your mother. Had she not written at last when she was dying, I should have forgotten you too.'The boy looked up puzzled.'An idol!''Yes,' went on his uncle in his dreamy way -- 'an idol. Many people have them; they keep them in the cupboard with their family skeleton; sometimes the two are identical. And they call them by many names, too; frequently it is a woman’s name; sometimes that of a passion; sometimes that of a vice, but a virtue’s -- not often.'