"Isn't it wonderful, that just when a man feels he wants a rope to hang
himself with, the rope isn't to be had?" he exclaimed. "Before he can lay
his hands on it he wants to hang somebody else, and then he has to pause
whether he will or no. Did I ever tell you the story of the old
Irishwoman who lived down at Kenmare, in Kerry? Well, she used to sit at
her doorway and lament the sorrows of the world with a depth of passion
that you'd think never could be assuaged. 'Oh, I fale so bad, I am so
wake--oh, I do fale so bad,' she used to say. 'I wish some wan would take
me by the ear and lade me round to the ould shebeen, and set me down, and
fill a noggen of whusky and make me dhrink it--whether I would or no!'
Whether I would or no I have to drink the cup of self-denial," Crozier
continued, "though Bradley and his gang have closed every door against me
here, and I've come back without what I went for at Aspen Vale, for my
men were away. I've come back without what I went for, but I must just
grin and bear it." He shrugged his shoulders and gave a great sigh.
"Perhaps you'll find what you went for here," returned the Young Doctor
meaningly.
"There's a lot here--enough to make a man think life worth while"--inside
the room the wife shrank at the words, for she could hear all--"but just
the same I'm not thinking the thing I went to look for is hereabouts.
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