"
"He told me he had talked to you," said Stephen eagerly, "and I wanted
to know what your impression was. He called you a great old boy, by the
way."
The Judge, who could wear at will the face either of Brutus or of
Antony, became at once the genial friend of humanity. "That pleases me
more than you realize," he said. "I have a suspicion that Gideon knows
human nature about as thoroughly as our General here knows the battles
of the Confederacy."
"I confess the man rather gripped me," rejoined Stephen. "There's
something about him, personality or mere play-acting, that catches one
in spite of oneself."
The Judge appeared to acquiesce. "I am inclined to think," he observed
presently, "that the quality you feel in Vetch is simply a violent
candour. Most people give you truth in small quantities; but Vetch pours
it out in a torrent. He offers it to you as Powhatan used to take his
Bourbon in the good old days before the Eighteenth Amendment--straight
and strong. I used to tell Powhatan that he'd get the name of a drunkard
simply because he could stand what the rest of the world couldn't--and
I'll say as much for our friend Gideon.
Pages:
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79