" Here was a set of Indian clubs he
had been going to harden his muscles with every morning, and had used
for a week; together with an india-rubber gymnastic apparatus bought for
the same purpose. Here stood a patent shower-bath, that was to have
dashed energy over him after a bad night, and had only succeeded in
giving him acute neuralgia; a standing-desk he had broken his back at
for a couple of days; a homoeopathic medicine-chest and a phrenological
head--both subjects he had meant to satisfy his curiosity by looking
into, had time not failed him. Mary sighed, when she thought of the
waste of good money these and similar articles stood for. (Some day he
would just have them privately carted away to auction!) But if Richard
set his heart on a thing he wanted it so badly, so much more than other
people did, that he knew no peace till he had it.
Mahony read in his wife's eyes the disapproval she was too wise to
utter. At any other time her silent criticism would have galled him; in
this case, he took shelter behind it. Let her only go on setting him
down for lax and spendthrift, incapable of knowing his own mind. He
would be sorry, indeed, for her to guess how matters really stood with
him. The truth was, he had fallen a prey to utter despondency, was
become so spiritless that it puzzled even himself. He thought he could
trace some of the mischief back to the professional knocks and jars
Ocock's action had brought down on him: to hear one's opinion doubted,
one's skill questioned, was the tyro's portion; he was too old to treat
such insolence with the scorn it deserved.
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