And as, recalled to reality by the sight of the week's
washing, which strained, ballooned, collapsed, on its lines in the yard
--Biddy was again letting the clothes get much too dry!--as Mary rose
to her feet, she manfully squared her shoulders to meet the weight of
the new burden that was being laid on them.
With regard to Mahony, it might be supposed that having faithfully done
what he believed to be his duty, he would enjoy the fruits of a quiet
mind. This was not so. Before many hours had passed he was wrestling
with the incident anew; and a true son of that nation which, for all its
level-headedness, spends its best strength in fighting shadows, he felt
a great deal angrier in retrospect than he had done at the moment. It
was not alone the fact of him having got his conge--no medico was safe
from THAT punch below the belt. His bitterness was aimed at himself.
Once more he had let himself be hoodwinked; had written down the smooth
civility it pleased Ocock to adopt towards him to respect and esteem.
Now that the veil was torn, he saw how poor the lawyer's opinion of him
actually was. And always had been. For a memory was struggling to emerge
in him, setting strings in vibration. And suddenly there rose before him
a picture of Ocock that time had dimmed. He saw the latter standing in
the dark, crowded lobby of the court-house, cursing at him for letting
their witness escape. There it was! There, in these two scenes, far
apart as they lay, you had the whole man.
Pages:
500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507
508
509
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524