England -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Fiction; Families -- Fiction; Murder -- Fiction
As for the other man, the pretended barrister, he stood revealed as one
who was living under false pretences. He had an equal right to stand in
pillory beside his brother. Once a prodigal and a spendthrift like him:
now living a daily lie which he had carried on for five-and-twenty
years. Good heavens! Christopher Campaigne, Barrister-at-Law of
Lincoln’s Inn, the successful Lawyer, on whom his family reposed a
confidence so profound and a pride so unbounded--who does not take pride
in a successful lawyer?--was nothing more than a common pretender and an
impostor. He wrote speeches and sold them to humbugs who wished to be
thought clever speakers. Honourable occupation! Delightful work! A proud
and distinguished career!
So there was nobody left except himself to maintain the family honour.
Certain words which you have already heard came back again. It seemed to
him as if Constance was saying them all over again: “You are independent
as to fortune; you are of a good house; you have no scandals in your
family records; you have got no poor or degraded relations ... you are
outside humanity.... If you had some family scandals, some poor
relations who would make you feel ashamed, something that made you like
other people, vulnerable----” Now he had them all.
The door was opened. His servant brought him a card: “Mr. Samuel
Galley-Campaigne.”
“Another!” Leonard groaned and sprang to his feet. “Another!” The sight
or the thought of this man, the caricature of his own family, tall and
thin, like himself, but with every feature vulgarized, and the meanness
of petty gains, petty cares, petty scheming and self-seeking stamped
upon his face, irritated Leonard unspeakably. And he was a cousin! He
stiffened involuntarily. His attitude, his expression, became that of
the “supercilious beast” formed by Mr. Galley on his previous business.
The cousin came in and bowed slightly, not holding out his hand. There
was a look in his face which meant resolution held back by fear, the
desire to “try on” something, and the doubt as to whether it would be
successful. It is an expression which may be remarked on ‘Change and in
every market-town on market-day.
It has been wisely, perhaps frequently, remarked that trouble brings out
a man’s true character far more certainly than prosperity, which may
encourage him to assume virtues not really his own. The lines about the
uses of adversity must be referred to the bystander rather than the
patient, because the former is then enabled to contemplate and observe
the true man for the first time. Mr. Galley, for instance, who was smug
in prosperity, was openly and undisguisedly vulgar in adversity. At this
moment, for instance, he was struggling with adversity; it made him red
in the face, it made him speak thick, it made him perspire
inconveniently, and it made his attitude ungraceful.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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