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021 - Chapter 20 · House with the Green Shutters

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Speaker 1: Chapter twenty of the House with the Green Shutters. This
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Speaker 1: is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the
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Speaker 1: public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit
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Speaker 1: LibriVox dot org. Recording by Lenn Nicholson. The House with
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Speaker 1: the Green Shutters by George Douglas Brown, chapter twenty. There
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Speaker 1: is nothing worse for a weakling than a small success.
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Speaker 1: The strong man tosses it beneath his feet as a
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Speaker 1: step to rise higher on. He squeezes it into its
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Speaker 1: proper place, as a layer in the life he is building.
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Speaker 1: If his memory dwells on it for a moment, it
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Speaker 1: is only because of its valuable results, not because in
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Speaker 1: itself it is a theme for vanity. And if he
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Speaker 1: be higher than strong, he values not it but the
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Speaker 1: exercise of getting it. Viewing his actual achievement, he is
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Speaker 1: apt to reflect, is this pitiful thing, then all that
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Speaker 1: I toiled for? Finer natures often experience a keen depression
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Speaker 1: and sense of littleness in the pause that follows a success.
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Speaker 1: But the fool is so swollen by thought of his
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Speaker 1: victory that he is unfit for all healthy work, till
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Speaker 1: somebody jags him and lets the gas out. He never
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Speaker 1: forgets the great thing he fancies he did thirty years ago,
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Speaker 1: and expects the world never to forget it either. The
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Speaker 1: more of a weakling he is, and the more incapable
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Speaker 1: of repeating his former triumph, the more he thinks of it,
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Speaker 1: and the more he thinks of it, the more it
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Speaker 1: satisfies his meager soul and prevents him essuying another brave
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Speaker 1: venture in the world. His petty achievement ruins him. The
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Speaker 1: memory of it never leaves him, but swells to a
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Speaker 1: huge balloon that lifts him off his feet and carries
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Speaker 1: him Heaven's high till it lands him on a dunghill.
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Speaker 1: Even from that proud eminence, he oft cockadoodles his former
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Speaker 1: triumph to the world. Man, you wouldn't think to see
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Speaker 1: me here that I once held a great position thirty
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Speaker 1: year back. I did a big thing. It was like this,
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Speaker 1: you see, and then follows a recital of his faded glories,
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Speaker 1: generally ending with a hint that a drink would be
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Speaker 1: very acceptable. Even such a weakling was young Gurli. His
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Speaker 1: success in Edinburgh, petty, as it was, turned his head
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Speaker 1: and became one of the many causes working to destroy him.
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Speaker 1: All that summer at Barbie, he swaggered and drank in
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Speaker 1: the strength of it. On the morning after his return,
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Speaker 1: he clothed himself in fine raiment. He was always well
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Speaker 1: dressed till the end came, and sallied forth to dominate
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Speaker 1: the town. As he swaggered past the cross, smoking a cigarette,
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Speaker 1: he seemed to be conscious that the very walls of
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Speaker 1: the houses watched him with us unusual eyes, as if
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Speaker 1: even they felt that yawn was John Gourley, whom they
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Speaker 1: had known as a boy, proud wearer now of the
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Speaker 1: academic wreath, the conquering hero returned to his home, So
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Speaker 1: Gurley figured them he the disconsidered, had shed a luster
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Speaker 1: on the ancient walls. They were tributaries to his new importance. Somehow,
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Speaker 1: their attitude was different from what it had ever been before.
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Speaker 1: It was only his self conscious bigness, of course, that
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Speaker 1: made even inanimate things seem the feeders of his greatness.
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Speaker 1: As Gurley, always alive to obscure emotions which he could
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Speaker 1: never express in words, mused for a moment over the
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Speaker 1: strange new feeling that had come to him. A gousterous
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Speaker 1: voice hailed him from the black bull door. He turned,
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Speaker 1: and Peter Wiley, hearty and keen like his father, stood
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Speaker 1: him a drink in honor of his victory, which was
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Speaker 1: already buzzed about the town druck. And Webster's wife had
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Speaker 1: seen to that. How she cried his mother's daft about it,
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Speaker 1: a silly old thing. She can speak of nothing else,
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Speaker 1: though Gourlly geeze her very little to come and go on.
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Speaker 1: She slipped him a whole sovereign this morning to keep
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Speaker 1: his pouch. Think o that kimmers hear'd ye ever sick extravagance.
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Speaker 1: I saw her doomed with my own eyes. It's aintswood
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Speaker 1: an I war with her, I'm thinking, but the Waistfoo's
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Speaker 1: wife's the wayfou widow, she should keep in mind, she's
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Speaker 1: far our browdened upon yon boy, I'm sure I howp
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Speaker 1: good may come out. But and with her ominous shake
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Speaker 1: of the head, she ended the Websterian harangue. When Peter
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Speaker 1: Wiley left him, Gourley lit a cigarette and stood at
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Speaker 1: the cross, waiting for the praises yet to be. The
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Speaker 1: deacon toddled forward on his thin shanks, manned yawn, you're one, hey,
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Speaker 1: my fee ay man, And how are ye, Gooley surveyed
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Speaker 1: him with insolent indolent eyes. Oh I'm all right, deacon,
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Speaker 1: he swagger, how are you? And he sent a puff
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Speaker 1: of tobacco smoke down through his nostrils. I declare, said
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Speaker 1: the deacon. I never thaw anybody smoke like that before.
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Speaker 1: That'll be one of the things ye learn at college,
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Speaker 1: no doubt, yes, yawned Gurley. It gives you the full
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Speaker 1: flavor of the weed. The deacon glimmered over him with
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Speaker 1: his eyes. The wheed said, he just so umph the weed.
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Speaker 1: Then worthy, mister Lerdyce tried another opening. But dear me,
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Speaker 1: he cried, I'm forgetting entirely, I must congratulate ye you've
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Speaker 1: been doing. Wonder if they tell me up in Edinburgh.
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Speaker 1: Just a little bit, swaggered Gurley right hand and outshot hip,
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Speaker 1: left hand, flaunting a cigarette and ear most delicate tobacco
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Speaker 1: smoke curling from his lofty nose. He looked down his
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Speaker 1: face at the deacon. Just a little bit, mister Rawerdyce,
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Speaker 1: just a little bit. I tossed the thing off in
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Speaker 1: a twining. Hi man John, said the deacon, with great solicitude.
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Speaker 1: But you mua work that prayer of yours too hard,
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Speaker 1: though I he'd like yours doesn't come through the hatter's
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Speaker 1: hand ilk a day of the week. You must be
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Speaker 1: careful not to put too great a thrain onunt aye.
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Speaker 1: I often the best machine's the easiest broken and the
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Speaker 1: worst to mend. You should take a rest and enjoy yourself.
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Speaker 1: But there what need I be telling you that a
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Speaker 1: college bred man like you ken far better about it
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Speaker 1: than a thilly old country body. You'll be meaning to
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Speaker 1: have a grand holiday and lots of fun, A dram
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Speaker 1: now in the any, and money a rattle in the
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Speaker 1: old man's gig. At this assault on his weak place,
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Speaker 1: Gourly threw away his important manner with the end of
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Speaker 1: his cigarette. He could never maintain the lofty pose for
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Speaker 1: more than five minutes at a time. You're right, deacon,
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Speaker 1: he said, nodding his head with splurging sincerity. I mean
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Speaker 1: to have a damned good holiday. One's glad to get
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Speaker 1: back to the old place after six months in Edinburgh atweel,
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Speaker 1: said the deacon. But man, have ye tried the new
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Speaker 1: whiskey at the Black Bull? I thaw ye in with
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Speaker 1: peate Wiley. It's throden or good theft of the thang
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Speaker 1: o a mavith on a nichtteen and fiery as a
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Speaker 1: highland charge. It was not in character for the Deacon
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Speaker 1: to say such a thing. But Whiskey makes the meanest
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Speaker 1: of Scott's poetical. He elevates the manner to the matter
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Speaker 1: and attains the perfect style. But no doubt, the cunning
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Speaker 1: old prayer went on with a smiling suavity in his voice.
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Speaker 1: But no doubt a man who knoweth Edinburgh so well,
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Speaker 1: if you will have a favorite blend of his throne.
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Speaker 1: I notice that university men have a fine taste in spirits.
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Speaker 1: I generally prefer kim Blithemut's cure, said Gurley, with the
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Speaker 1: air of a connoisseur. But Anderson's sting of delights very good,
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Speaker 1: and so's Balsilly's brig O the mains, Aye, said the Deacon, Aye, Aye,
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Speaker 1: the mains. If what Jock Allan drinks, you'll pray nothing else.
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Speaker 1: I dare say you see a great deal with him
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Speaker 1: in Edinburgh. Oh every week, swaggered Gurley. We're always together,
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Speaker 1: he and I. Oh with thegether, said the deacon. It
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Speaker 1: was not true that Allan and Gurley were together at
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Speaker 1: all times. Allan was kind to Jean Richmond's son in
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Speaker 1: his own ruinous way, but not to the extent of
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Speaker 1: being burdened with the cub half a dozen times a week.
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Speaker 1: Gurley was merely boasting, as young blades are apt to
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Speaker 1: do of acquaintance with older roisterers. They think it makes
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Speaker 1: them seem men of the world. And in his desire
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Speaker 1: to vaunt his comradeship with Allan, John failed to see
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Speaker 1: that Allardyce was scooping him out like an oyster. Aye
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Speaker 1: Man resumed the deacon. He's a hearty fellow, jock. No
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Speaker 1: doubt you have the great Freeze Spraeze, gurgled Gurley and
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Speaker 1: flung back his head with a laugh. I should think
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Speaker 1: we have. There was a great foy at Allan's the
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Speaker 1: night before I left Edinburgh. Turmillan was there. Do you know.
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Speaker 1: Yon's the finest fellow I ever met in my life?
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Speaker 1: And Baldy Logan he's another great chap. Then there was
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Speaker 1: Armstrong in Gillespie, great friends of mine, and damned clever
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Speaker 1: fellows they are too, I can tell you. Besides us three,
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Speaker 1: there were half a dozen more from the college. He
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Speaker 1: should have heard a talk and every man. Jack was
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Speaker 1: as drunk as a lord. The last thing I remember
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Speaker 1: is some of us students dancing round a lamp post
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Speaker 1: while Logan whistled a jig. Though Gourley the elder hated
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Speaker 1: the Deacon, he had never warned his son to avoid him.
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Speaker 1: To have said, aladice is dangerous would have been to
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Speaker 1: pay the old malignant too great a compliment. It would
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Speaker 1: have been beneath John Gooley to admit that a thing
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Speaker 1: like allar dice could harm him and his young Gooley. Therefore,
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Speaker 1: when one set a going by, the Deacon's deft management
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Speaker 1: blurted everything without a hanker. Even so, however, he felt
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Speaker 1: that he had gone too far. He glanced anxiously at
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Speaker 1: his companion. Mum's a word about this, of course, he said,
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Speaker 1: with a wink. It would never do for this to
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Speaker 1: be known about the green Shutters. Oh, I'm a found
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Speaker 1: of a bell, John, I'm a found of a bell,
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Speaker 1: said the deacon. Ay Man, you just bear out what
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Speaker 1: I have always understood about the men of brains. They
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Speaker 1: are the heartiest devils after all. Burns that the baker
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Speaker 1: raves so muckaloe with just another of the same, just
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Speaker 1: another of the same. We'll be hearing you boys, pet
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Speaker 1: Wiley and you and a ween mayre having rare ploise
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Speaker 1: in barbie through the thumber. Oh, we'll kick up a
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Speaker 1: bit of dust, gruelly sniggered, well pleased, had not the
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Speaker 1: deacon ranked him in the robustious great company of Burns.
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Speaker 1: I say, Deacon, come in and have a nip. There's
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Speaker 1: your father, grinned the deacon. Eh what, cried Gurley in alarm,
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Speaker 1: and started round to see his father and the reverend
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Speaker 1: mister Struthers advancing up the Feker's road. Eh, deaconal, I'll
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Speaker 1: see you again about the nip. Just so, grinned. The
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Speaker 1: Deacon will postpone the drink to a more convenient opportunity.
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Speaker 1: He toddled away, having no desire that old Gurley should
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Speaker 1: find him talking to his son. If Gurley suspected him
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Speaker 1: of pulling the young fellow's leg, likely as not, he
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Speaker 1: would give an exhibition of his damned unpleasant manners. Gurley
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Speaker 1: and the minister came straight towards the student of the
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Speaker 1: reverend mister Struthers. It may be said with truth that
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Speaker 1: he would have cut a remarkable figure in any society.
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Speaker 1: He had big splay feet, short stout legs, and a
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Speaker 1: body of such bulging bulbosity that all the droppings of
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Speaker 1: his spoon, which were many, were caught in the round
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Speaker 1: of his black waistcoat, which always looked as if it
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Speaker 1: had just been spattered by a gray shower. His eyebrows
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Speaker 1: were bushy and white, and the hairs slanting up and
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Speaker 1: out rendered the meager brow even narrower than it was.
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Speaker 1: His complexion, more especially in cold weather, was a dark crimson.
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Speaker 1: The purply color of his face was intensified by the
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Speaker 1: pure whiteness of the side whiskers projecting stiffly by his ears,
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Speaker 1: and at midweek, when he was unshaven, his redness revealed
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Speaker 1: more plainly in turn the short, gleaming stubble that lay
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Speaker 1: like rime on his chin. His eyes goggled, and his
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Speaker 1: manner at all times was that of a staring and
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Speaker 1: earnest self. Importance Puffy Importance, was one of his nicknames.
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Speaker 1: Struthers was a man of lowly stock who, after a
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Speaker 1: ten years desperate battle with his heavy brains, succeeded at
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Speaker 1: the long last of it in passing the examinations required
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Speaker 1: for the ministry. The influence of a wealthy patron then
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Speaker 1: presented him to Barbie. Because he had taken so long
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Speaker 1: to get through the university himself. He constantly magnified the
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Speaker 1: place in his conversation, partly to excuse his own slowness
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Speaker 1: in getting through it, partly that the greater glory might
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Speaker 1: redound on him who had conquered it at last, and
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Speaker 1: issued from its portals a fat and prosperous alumnus. Stupid
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Speaker 1: men who have mastered a system not by intuition, but
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Speaker 1: by a plodding effort of slow years, always exaggerate its importance.
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Speaker 1: Did it not take them ten years to understand it?
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Speaker 1: Whoso has passed the system, then, is to their minds
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Speaker 1: one of a close corporation of a select and intellectual few,
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Speaker 1: and entitled to pose before they uninitiate. Because their stupidity
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Speaker 1: made the thing difficult, their vanity leads them to exalt it.
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Speaker 1: Woe to him that shall scoff at any detail. To struthers,
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Speaker 1: the sinatus academicus was an august assemblage worthy of the
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Speaker 1: Roman curia, and each petty academic rule was a law
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Speaker 1: of sacrisanct and holy. He was forever talking of the
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Speaker 1: university mingee, he would say, it takes a long time
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Speaker 1: to understand even the workings of the university, the sin
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Speaker 1: and such like. It's not for everyone to criticize. He implied,
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Speaker 1: of course, that he had a right to criticize, having
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Speaker 1: passed triumphant through the mighty test. This vanity of his
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Speaker 1: was fed by a peculiar vanity of some Scott's peasants
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Speaker 1: who liked to discuss divinity, halls and so on, Because
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Speaker 1: to talk of these things shows that they too are
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Speaker 1: intelligent men and know the awful intellectual ordeal required of
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Speaker 1: a meenister. When a peasant says he went through his
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Speaker 1: arts course in three years and got a kirk the
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Speaker 1: moment he was licensed, he wants you to see that
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Speaker 1: he's a smart man himself and knows what he's talking of.
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Speaker 1: There were several men in Barbie who liked to talk
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Speaker 1: in that way, and among them Puffy Importance, when graciously inclined,
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Speaker 1: found ready listeners to his pompous bleather about the university.
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Speaker 1: But what he liked best of all was to stop
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Speaker 1: a newly returned student in full view of the people,
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Speaker 1: and talk learnedly of his courses. Dear of his courses,
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Speaker 1: and his matriculations, and his lectures, and his graduations, and
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Speaker 1: his thing um Bob's. That was why he bore down
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Speaker 1: upon our great essayist. Allow me to congratulate you, John,
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Speaker 1: he said, with heavy solemnity, for Struthers always made a
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Speaker 1: congregation of his listener and droned as if mounted for
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Speaker 1: a sermon. You have done excellently well this session. You
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Speaker 1: have indeed excellently well, excellently well. Gurley blushed and thanked him.
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Speaker 1: Tell me now, said the cleric. Do you mean to
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Speaker 1: take your arts course in three years or four? A
15:37
Speaker 1: long arts course is a grand thing for a clergyman.
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Speaker 1: Even if he spends half a dozen years aunt, he
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Speaker 1: won't be wasting his time. Gurley glanced at his father.
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Speaker 1: I mean to tract in three he said. His father
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Speaker 1: had threatened him that he must get through his arts
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Speaker 1: in three years, without deigning, of course, to give any
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Speaker 1: reason for the threat. Well, well, said mister Struthers, gazing
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Speaker 1: down the Fecker's road, as if visioning great things. It
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Speaker 1: will require a strenuous and devoted application, A strenuous and
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Speaker 1: devoted application, even from the man of ability you have
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Speaker 1: shown yourself to be. Tell me now, he went on,
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Speaker 1: have you heard anything of the new professor of exegusis?
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Speaker 1: Do you know how he's doing? Young Girlie knew nothing
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Speaker 1: of the new Professor of Exegesis, but he answered very well,
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Speaker 1: I believe at a venture. Oh, he's sure to do well.
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Speaker 1: He's sure to do well. He's one of the best
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Speaker 1: men we have in the church. I have just finished
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Speaker 1: his book on the Ephesians. It's most profound. It has
16:41
Speaker 1: taken me a whole year to master it. Garvey on
16:45
Speaker 1: the Ephesians is a book of one hundred and eighty pages.
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Speaker 1: And by the way, said the parson, stooping to Scotch
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Speaker 1: in his ministerial jocoseness, how is old tam in whose
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Speaker 1: class you were a prize winner. He was appointed to
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Speaker 1: the professoriat the same year that I obtained my license.
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Speaker 1: I remember to have heard him deliver a lecture on
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Speaker 1: German philosophy, and I thought it excellently good. But perhaps,
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Speaker 1: he added, with a solemn and pondering brows, perhaps he
17:15
Speaker 1: was a little too fond of Hegel. Yes, I'm inclined
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Speaker 1: to think that he was a little too fond of Hegel.
17:21
Speaker 1: Missus Eccles, listening from the Black bull door wondered if
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Speaker 1: hegel was a drink. He's very popular, said young Gurley. Oh,
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Speaker 1: he's sure to be popular. He merits the very greatest popularity,
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Speaker 1: and he would express himself as being excellently well pleased
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Speaker 1: with your theme. What did he say of it? May
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Speaker 1: I venture to inquire? Beneath the pressure of his father's presence,
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Speaker 1: Young Gurley did not dare to splurge. He seemed to
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Speaker 1: think there was something in it, he answered modestly enough. Oh,
17:52
Speaker 1: he would be sure to think there was something in it,
17:54
Speaker 1: said the minister, staring and wagging his pow. Not a
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Speaker 1: doubt of that, Not a doubt of that. There must
18:01
Speaker 1: have been something in it to obtain the palm of
18:03
Speaker 1: victory in the face of such prodigious competition. It's the
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Speaker 1: sea lect intellect of Scotland that goes to the university,
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Speaker 1: and only the elect of the sea lect win the palm.
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Speaker 1: And it's an augury of great good for the future.
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Speaker 1: Ability to write is a splendid thing for the church.
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Speaker 1: Goodbye John, and allow me to express once more my
18:25
Speaker 1: great satisfaction that a parishoner of mine is a lad
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Speaker 1: of such brilliant promise. Though the elder Gurley disconsidered the
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Speaker 1: church and thought little of mister Struthers. He swelled with
18:38
Speaker 1: pride to think that the minister should stop his offspring
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Speaker 1: in the main street of Barbie to congratulate him on
18:44
Speaker 1: his prospects. They were close to the emporium, and with
18:48
Speaker 1: the tail of his eye he could see Wilson peeping
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Speaker 1: from the door and listening to every word. This would
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Speaker 1: be a hair in Wilson's neck. There were no clerical
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Speaker 1: compliments for his son. The tables were turned at last.
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Speaker 1: His father had a generous impulse to John for the
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Speaker 1: bright triumph he had won the girlies. He fumbled in
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Speaker 1: his trouser pocket and passed him a sovereign. I'm kinda
19:11
Speaker 1: hard up, he said, with grim jecosity. But there's a
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Speaker 1: pound to keep your pouch. No nonsense, now, he shot
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Speaker 1: at the youth with a loaded eye. That's just for use.
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Speaker 1: If you happen to be in company a girly mun
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Speaker 1: spend as much as the rest of folk. Yes, failure,
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Speaker 1: said the youngster, and Gurley went away. That grimly ducose
19:31
Speaker 1: reference to his poverty was a feature of Girli's talk. Now,
19:35
Speaker 1: when he spoke of money to his family. It excused
19:38
Speaker 1: the smallness of his dolls, yet led them to believe
19:41
Speaker 1: that he was only joking, that he had plenty of
19:43
Speaker 1: money if he would only consent to shell it out,
19:46
Speaker 1: and that was what he wished them to believe. His
19:49
Speaker 1: pride would not allow him to confess, even to his
19:52
Speaker 1: nearest that he was a failure in business and hampered
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Speaker 1: with financial trouble. Thus his manner of warning them to
19:58
Speaker 1: be careful had a very opposite effect. He is heaps
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Speaker 1: o cash, thought the sun as he watched the father
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Speaker 1: up the street. There's no need for a fellow to
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Speaker 1: be mean, flattered as he fondly imagined by the deacon,
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Speaker 1: flattered by the minister, tipped by his mother, tipped by
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Speaker 1: his father. Hail fellow well met with Pate Wiley, Lord,
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Speaker 1: But young Girly was the fine fellow. Symptoms of swell
20:23
Speaker 1: head set in with alarming rapidity. He had a wild
20:26
Speaker 1: tendency to splurge, and that he might show in a
20:29
Speaker 1: single afternoon all the crass stupidity of which he was capable.
20:33
Speaker 1: He immediately allowed himself a veiled insult towards the daughters
20:36
Speaker 1: of the ex profest. They were really nice girls in
20:40
Speaker 1: spite of their parentage, And as they came down the street,
20:43
Speaker 1: they glanced with shy kindness at the student from under
20:45
Speaker 1: their broad brimmed hats. Gurley raised his in answer to
20:50
Speaker 1: their nod, but the moment after and in their hearing,
20:53
Speaker 1: he yelled blatantly to Swipey Broon to come on and
20:56
Speaker 1: have a drink of beer. Swipey was a sweep now
21:00
Speaker 1: for Brown, the Ragman had added chimney cleaning to his
21:03
Speaker 1: other occupations, plurality of professions, you observe, being one of
21:07
Speaker 1: the features of the life of Barbie. When Swipey turned
21:11
Speaker 1: out of the flecky road, he was as black as
21:13
Speaker 1: the ace of spades, a most disreputable phizz And when
21:18
Speaker 1: Gurley yelled his loud welcome to that grimy object, what
21:22
Speaker 1: he wanted to convey to the two girls was ho, Ho,
21:25
Speaker 1: my pretty missus, I'm in bowing terms with you. And
21:28
Speaker 1: yet when I might go up and speak to ye,
21:31
Speaker 1: I prefer to go off and drink with a sweep.
21:33
Speaker 1: D'ye see that shows what I think, o ye. All
21:36
Speaker 1: that summer, John took an oblique revenge in those who
21:39
Speaker 1: had disconsidered the girlies but would have liked to make
21:42
Speaker 1: up to him. Now, when they thought he was going
21:45
Speaker 1: to do well, he took a paltry revenge by patently
21:48
Speaker 1: rejecting their advances and consorting instead, and in their presence,
21:52
Speaker 1: with the lowest of low company. Thus he vented a
21:56
Speaker 1: spite which he had long cherished against him for their
21:58
Speaker 1: former neglect of Jacket and him. For though the girly
22:02
Speaker 1: children had been welcome at well to do houses in
22:04
Speaker 1: the country, their father's unpopularity had cut them off from
22:08
Speaker 1: the social life of the town. When the Provost gave
22:11
Speaker 1: his grand spree in Hogmanay, there was never an invitation
22:14
Speaker 1: for the gurly youngsters. The slight had rankled in the
22:17
Speaker 1: boy's mind. Now, however, some of the local bigwigs had
22:22
Speaker 1: an opinion with very little to support it, that he
22:25
Speaker 1: was going to be a successful man, and they showed
22:27
Speaker 1: a disposition to be friendly. John, with a rankling memory
22:31
Speaker 1: of their former coldness, flouted every overture by letting them
22:35
Speaker 1: see plainly that he preferred to their company that of
22:39
Speaker 1: Swipey Brun, Jock mac craw and every ragamuffin of the town.
22:43
Speaker 1: It was a kind of back handed stroke at them
22:46
Speaker 1: that was the paltry form which his father's pride took
22:49
Speaker 1: in him. He did not see that he was harming
22:51
Speaker 1: himself rather than his father's enemies. Harm himself he did,
22:56
Speaker 1: for you could not associate with Jock mc craw and
22:58
Speaker 1: the like without drinking. In every hou few came across.
23:02
Speaker 1: When the Body's assembled next day for their morning, the
23:06
Speaker 1: deacon was able to inform them that young Gurley was
23:09
Speaker 1: back from the college dafter than ever, and that he
23:11
Speaker 1: had pulled his leg as far as he wanted it. Oh,
23:15
Speaker 1: he said, I played him like a kittenway a cork
23:18
Speaker 1: and found out anything and everything I wished. I discovered
23:21
Speaker 1: that he's in with Joe Allen and that crowd. I
23:24
Speaker 1: edged the conversation round on purpose, unless you with blowing
23:28
Speaker 1: his trump, which I greatly doubt. They're as thick as thieves.
23:32
Speaker 1: You ken what that means. He'll turneth wee finger to
23:35
Speaker 1: the ceiling oftener than he puts his forefinger to the pen.
23:38
Speaker 1: I'm thinking it seems he drinks enormous. He took a
23:43
Speaker 1: guy nip last Thummer, and this Thummer a wager he
23:46
Speaker 1: takes merit. He avowed his plain intention. I mean to
23:49
Speaker 1: kick up a bit of dust, he says he. Oh,
23:52
Speaker 1: but he's a sludge aye, aye, said Sandy Toddle. They
23:57
Speaker 1: students are a guy squad, especially the young minister, oh,
24:01
Speaker 1: said Tam Wiley. Didn't I be hard on the minister's
24:04
Speaker 1: ministers are just like the rest of folk. They mind
24:07
Speaker 1: me of last year's early tatties. They're grand when they're good,
24:11
Speaker 1: but the fecho them. Throst it, aye, said the deacon,
24:14
Speaker 1: And young girlies frost it in the shawl ready. I
24:17
Speaker 1: doubt it'll be a poor in gathering wheel wheel, said
24:21
Speaker 1: Tom Wiley. The mayor's the pity O that deacon. Oh,
24:25
Speaker 1: it's a great pity, said the deacon, and he bowed
24:29
Speaker 1: his body solemnly with outspread hands. No doubt it's a
24:33
Speaker 1: great pity, And he wagged his head from side to side,
24:37
Speaker 1: the picture of a poignant woe. I saw him in
24:41
Speaker 1: the black bull y stream, said Brody, who had been
24:44
Speaker 1: silent hitherto in utter scorn of the lad they were
24:46
Speaker 1: speaking of, tooed his gusty to open his mouth. He
24:50
Speaker 1: was standing drinks to a crowd that were puffing him
24:53
Speaker 1: up about that prize of his. It's all with the
24:56
Speaker 1: numbh s gull hath the most conceit, said the deacon.
25:00
Speaker 1: There must be something in him too to get that prize,
25:02
Speaker 1: mused the ex provost. A little ability's a dangerous thing,
25:06
Speaker 1: said Johnny Cole, who could think at times. To be safe,
25:11
Speaker 1: you should be a genius, winged and flying, or a
25:14
Speaker 1: crawling thing that never leaves the earth. It's the half
25:17
Speaker 1: and half that hell gapes. For an hour they flap,
25:21
Speaker 1: but nobody understood him. Drink and vanity. I'll soon make
25:26
Speaker 1: end o him, said Brodie curtly, and snubbed the philosopher.
25:31
Speaker 1: Before the summer holiday was over. It lasts six months
25:34
Speaker 1: in Scotland. Young Gurley was a habit and repute tipler.
25:38
Speaker 1: His shrinking abhorrence from the scholastic life of Edinburgh flung him,
25:42
Speaker 1: with all the greater abandon into the conviviality he had
25:46
Speaker 1: learned to know at home. His mother, who always seemed
25:49
Speaker 1: to sit up now after Janet and Gurley were in bed,
25:52
Speaker 1: often let him in during the small hours, and as
25:55
Speaker 1: he hurried past her in the lobby, he would hold
25:57
Speaker 1: his breath lest she should smell it. Your uncle, late, dear,
26:01
Speaker 1: she would say, wearily. But no other reproach did she
26:05
Speaker 1: utter I was taking a walk? He would answer thickly,
26:09
Speaker 1: there's a fine moon. It was true that when his
26:12
Speaker 1: terrible depression seized him, he was sometimes tempted to seek
26:15
Speaker 1: the rapture and piece of a moonlight walk upon the
26:18
Speaker 1: flecky road. In his crude clay there was a vein
26:22
Speaker 1: of poetry. He could be alone in the country, and
26:25
Speaker 1: not lonely. Had he lived in a green, quiet place,
26:29
Speaker 1: he might have learned a solace of nature for the
26:31
Speaker 1: wounded when Eve sheds her spiritual jews. But the mean
26:37
Speaker 1: pleasures to be found at the cross satisfied his nature
26:40
Speaker 1: and stopped him midway to that soothing beauty of the
26:43
Speaker 1: woods and streams, which might have brought healing and a
26:46
Speaker 1: wise quiescence. His success, such as it was, had gained
26:51
Speaker 1: him a circle, such as it was, and the assertive
26:54
Speaker 1: nature proper to his father's son, gave him a kind
26:57
Speaker 1: of lead amongst them. Yet, even as Henchman saw through
27:01
Speaker 1: his swaggering swipey bruin turned on him one night and
27:04
Speaker 1: threatened to split his mouth, and he went as white
27:07
Speaker 1: as the wall behind him. Among his other follies, he
27:11
Speaker 1: assumed the pose of a man who could, and he would,
27:14
Speaker 1: who had it in him to do great things if
27:17
Speaker 1: he would only set about them. In this he was
27:20
Speaker 1: partly playing up to a foolish opinion of his more
27:23
Speaker 1: ignorant associates. It was they who suggested the pose to him,
27:27
Speaker 1: devilish clever, he heard them whisper one night as he
27:30
Speaker 1: stood in the door of a tavern. He could do
27:33
Speaker 1: it if he liked. Only he's too fond of the fun.
27:36
Speaker 1: Young Girlly flushed where he stood in the darkness, flushed
27:40
Speaker 1: with pleasure at the criticism of his character, which was
27:43
Speaker 1: nevertheless a compliment to his wits. He felt that he
27:47
Speaker 1: must play up at once to the character assigned him. Ho, Ho,
27:51
Speaker 1: my lads, he cried, entering with a splurge. Let's make
27:54
Speaker 1: a knight to it. I should be working for my
27:57
Speaker 1: degree to night. But I suppose I can get it
27:59
Speaker 1: easy enough when the time comes. What did I tell ye?
28:02
Speaker 1: Said Macraw, nudging an elbow, and Gurley saw the nudge.
28:07
Speaker 1: Here at last he had found a sweet seduction of
28:10
Speaker 1: a proper pose, that of a grandon monkey, of a
28:14
Speaker 1: man who would be a genius, were it not for
28:17
Speaker 1: the excess of his qualities. Would he continue to appear
28:20
Speaker 1: a genius, then he must continue to display that excess, which,
28:25
Speaker 1: so he wished them to believe, alone prevented his brilliant achievements.
28:30
Speaker 1: It was all a curious, vicious inversion. You could do
28:33
Speaker 1: great things if you didn't drink. Croon the fools see
28:37
Speaker 1: how I drink, Gurley seemed to answer, That is why
28:40
Speaker 1: I don't do great things. But mind you, I could
28:43
Speaker 1: do them were it not for this. Thus every glass
28:46
Speaker 1: he tossed off seemed to hint, in a roundabout way,
28:49
Speaker 1: at the glorious heights he might attain if he didn't
28:52
Speaker 1: drink it. His very roistering became a pose, and his
28:55
Speaker 1: vanity made him roister the more to make the pose
28:58
Speaker 1: more convincing. End of Chapter twenty