“My Son Leo,—When you open this, if you ever live to do so, you will have attained to manhood, and I shall have been long enough dead to be absolutely forgotten by nearly all who knew me. Yet in reading it remember that I have been, and for anything you know may still be, and that in it, through this link of pen and paper, I stretch out my hand to you across the gulf of death, and my voice speaks to you from the silence of the grave. Though I am dead, and no memory of me remains in your mind, yet am I with you in this hour that you read. Since your birth to this day I have scarcely seen your face. Forgive me this. Your life supplanted the life of one whom I loved better than women are often loved, and the bitterness of it endureth yet.”
The wordings in this letter are emotional; they are bound to appeal to Leo although he has never perceived his father. Vincey heartens Leo by assuring him that the writing is contributory in linking them although they are in different worlds. According to Vincey, his spirit is embodied in the letter; hence, Leo can interact with it as if his father were active. Additionally, Vincey’s apology surmises that he is conscious that he let down his son by electing not to be in his life. He trusts that Leo would appreciate that his father was Avoidant of him because his birth triggered the death of Leo’s mother who was Vincey’s exceptional love.
“Had I lived I should in time have conquered this foolish feeling, but I am not destined to live. My sufferings, physical and mental, are more than I can bear, and when such small arrangements as I have to make for your future well-being are completed it is my intention to put a period to them. May God forgive me if I do wrong. At the best I could not live more than another year.”
Vincey’s writing surmises that he has embraced death as the sole remedy from his suffering. He prophesies the termination of his lifespan with conviction since he feels that his death is immanent. Instead of endeavoring to circumvent death, he readies himself by writing letters to his son who he has never perceived. Vincey sanctions that he never loathed his son though he elected not to me in his life. Had Vincey not cared about Leo he would not have made provisions for his forthcoming life and education.
“Very well, remember that perhaps one day I shall ask for the account of your oath, for though I am dead and forgotten, yet I shall live. There is no such thing as death, Holly, only a change, and, as you may perhaps learn in time to come, I believe that even that change could under certain circumstances be indefinitely postponed,”
Vincey maintains that Holly should accomplish his oath by fathering his son (Leo) after death. According to Vincey, being death would not encumber him from making a follow up on Holly’s assurance. According to Vincey, he will exist after his expiry though in a different form. The affirmation regarding existence after death depicts Vincey’s philosophy of death which does not dishearten him from embracing death tranquilly.
