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But no, not I; I never canted. Voltaire might have canted if he'd stood in my shoes; but the brains' with a rattling fillip on his bald head 'the brains were clear and active, and I saw and made no deductions. 'If you know this doctor, I ventured to remark, after a somewhat awful pause, 'I should gather that you do not share the landlord's good opinion. Fettes paid no regard to me.
Next day Macfarlane was absent from the class, and Fettes smiled to himself as he imagined him still squiring the intolerable Gray from tavern to tavern. As soon as the hour of liberty had struck he posted from place to place in quest of his last night's companions. He could find them, however, nowhere; so returned early to his rooms, went early to bed, and slept the sleep of the just.
The men answered nothing, but they shuffled nearer the door. "I know her, I tell you," he continued. "She was alive and hearty yesterday. It's impossible she can be dead; it's impossible you should have got this body fairly." "Sure, sir, you're mistaken entirely," said one of the men. But the other looked Fettes darkly in the eyes, and demanded the money on the spot.
Fettes was thus left alone with his regrets. He saw the miserable peril in which he stood involved. He saw, with inexpressible dismay, that there was no limit to his weakness, and that, from concession to concession, he had fallen from the arbiter of Macfarlane's destiny to his paid and helpless accomplice.
The men answered nothing, but they shuffled nearer the door. 'I know her, I tell you, he continued. 'She was alive and hearty yesterday. It's impossible she can be dead; it's impossible you should have got this body fairly. 'Sure, sir, you're mistaken entirely, said one of the men. But the other looked Fettes darkly in the eyes, and demanded the money on the spot.
Had that idea been broached to him in words, he would have recoiled in horror; but the lightness of his speech upon so grave a matter was, in itself, an offence against good manners, and a temptation to the men with whom he dealt. Fettes, for instance, had often remarked to himself upon the singular freshness of the bodies.
K-. At times they had a word or two in private, and Macfarlane was from first to last particularly kind and jovial. But it was plain that he avoided any reference to their common secret; and even when Fettes whispered to him that he had cast in his lot with the lions and foresworn the lambs, he only signed to him smilingly to hold his peace.
One afternoon, when his day's work was over, Fettes dropped into a popular tavern and found Macfarlane sitting with a stranger. This was a small man, very pale and dark, with coal-black eyes. The cut of his features gave a promise of intellect and refinement which was but feebly realised in his manners, for he proved, upon a nearer acquaintance, coarse, vulgar, and stupid.
Had that idea been broached to him in words, he would have recoiled in horror; but the lightness of his speech upon so grave a matter was, in itself, an offence against good manners, and a temptation to the men with whom he dealt. Fettes, for instance, had often remarked to himself upon the singular freshness of the bodies.
Still their unnatural burden bumped from side to side; and now the head would be laid, as if in confidence, upon their shoulders, and now the drenching sackcloth would flap icily about their faces. A creeping chill began to possess the soul of Fettes. He peered at the bundle, and it seemed somehow larger than at first.
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