The Witch's Head by H. Rider Haggard, Fiction, Fantasy, Historical, Action & Adventure, Fairy Tales, Folk Tales, Legends & Mythology (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781606645215)

"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."