Now it might be said of him that he was
viewing justice from the same angle. He had scorned the idea of
distorting his political opinions to fit the trade by which he gained
his bread. But it was a far more serious thing if his principles, his
character, his sense of equity were all to be undermined as well. If he
stayed here, he would end by becoming as blunt to what was right and
fair as the rest of them. As it was, he was no longer able to regard the
two great landmarks of man's moral development--liberty and justice--
from the point of view of an honest man and a gentleman.
His self-annoyance was so great that it galvanised him to action. There
and then he made up his mind: as soon as the child that was coming to
them was old enough to travel, he would sell out for what he could get,
and go back to the old country. Once upon a time he had hoped, when he
went, to take a good round sum with him towards a first-rate English
practice. Now he saw that this scheme had been a kind of Jack-o'-lantern
--a marsh-light after which he might have danced for years to come. As
matters stood, he must needs be content if, the passage-moneys paid, he
could scrape together enough to keep him afloat till he found a modest
corner to slip into.
His first impulse was to say nothing of this to his wife in the
meantime. Why unsettle her? But he had reckoned without the sudden
upward leap his spirits made, once his decision was taken: the winter
sky was blue as violets again above him; he turned out light-heartedly
of a morning.
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