He must not condemn Morris Townsend unheard. He had a great aversion
to taking things too hard; he thought that half the discomfort and
many of the disappointments of life come from it; and for an instant
he asked himself whether, possibly, he did not appear ridiculous to
this intelligent young man, whose private perception of incongruities
he suspected of being keen. At the end of a quarter of an hour
Catherine had got rid of him, and Townsend was now standing before
the fireplace in conversation with Mrs. Almond.
"We will try him again," said the Doctor. And he crossed the room
and joined his sister and her companion, making her a sign that she
should leave the young man to him. She presently did so, while
Morris looked at him, smiling, without a sign of evasiveness in his
affable eye.
"He's amazingly conceited!" thought the Doctor; and then he said
aloud: "I am told you are looking out for a position."
"Oh, a position is more than I should presume to call it," Morris
Townsend answered. "That sounds so fine. I should like some quiet
work--something to turn an honest penny."
"What sort of thing should you prefer?"
"Do you mean what am I fit for? Very little, I am afraid. I have
nothing but my good right arm, as they say in the melodramas."
"You are too modest," said the Doctor. "In addition to your good
right arm, you have your subtle brain. I know nothing of you but
what I see; but I see by your physiognomy that you are extremely
intelligent.
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