“There was no rush afther all, though we waited undher arms to give
thim a chanst. The Paythan man must ha' come alone for the mischief,
an' afther a while Love-o'-Women wint back to his tint wid that quare
lurchin' sind-off in his walk that I cud niver undherstand. Begad, I
pitied him, an' the more bekaze he made me think for the rest av the
night av the day whin I was confirmed Corp'ril, not actin' Lef'tenant,
an' my thoughts was not good.
“Ye can undherstand that afther that night we came to talkin' a dale
together, an' bit by bit ut came out fwhat I'd suspicioned. The whole
av his carr'in's on an' divilmints had come back on him hard as liquor
comes back whin you've been on the dhrink for a wake. All he'd said an'
all he'd done, an' only he cud tell how much that was, come back, an'
there was niver a minut's peace in his sowl. 'Twas the Horrors widout
any cause to see, an' yet, an' yet--fwhat am I talkin' av? He'd ha'
taken the Horrors wid thankfulness. Beyon' the repentince av the man,
an' that was beyon' the natur av man--awful, awful, to behould!--there
was more that was worst than any repentince. Av the scores an' scores
that he called over in his mind (an' they were dhrivin' him mad), there
was, mark you, wan woman av all, an' she was not his wife, that cut him
to the quick av his marrow. 'Twas there he said that he'd thrown away
di'monds an' pearls past count, an' thin he'd begin again like a blind
byle in an oil-mill, walkin' round an' round, to considher (him that was
beyond all touch av being happy this side hell!) how happy he wud ha'
been wid her. The more he considhered, the more he'd consate himself
that he'd lost mighty happiness, an' thin he wud work ut all backwards,
an' cry that he niver cud ha' been happy anyways.
“Time an' time an' again in camp, on p'rade, ay, an' in action, I've
seen that man shut his eyes an' duck his head as you wud duck to the
flicker av a bay'nit. For 'twas thin he tould me that the thought av all
he'd missed came an' stud forninst him like red-hot irons. For what
he'd done wid the others he was sorry, but he did not care; but this wan
woman that I've tould of, by the Hilts av God she made him pay for
all the others twice over! Niver did I know that a man cud enjure such
tormint widout his heart crackin' in his ribs, an' I have been”--Terence
turned the pipe-stem slowly between his teeth--“I have been in some
black cells. All I iver suffered tho' was not to be talked of alongside
av him... an' what could I do? Paternosters was no more than peas for
his sorrow.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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