Violet Jacob > Flemington

FLEMINGTON
So
and the bar alike had found plenty to make merry
over in Balnillo. He had all the loyal feeling
which the Scot of his time bore to the head of
his family, and, as his sentiments towards him
sprang from the heart rather than from the brain,
it is possible that he undervalued the sudden fits
of shrewdness which would attack his brother as
headache or ague might attack another man. The
fact that David’s colleagues had never made this
mistake was responsible for a career the success
of which surprised many who knew the judge by
hearsay alone. Drink, detail and indecision have
probably ruined more characters than any three
other influences in the world ; but the two latter
had not quite succeeded with Lord Balnillo, and
the former had passed him over.
“ I wonder ” said James—“ I wonder is it a
good chance that has sent him here ? Could we
make anything of him, David ?”
“Whisht, James!” said the other, turning his
face away quickly. “ You go too fast. And, mind
you, if a man has only one notion in his head,
there are times when his skull is scarce thick
enough to stand between his thoughts and the
world.”
“ That is true. But I doubt Flemington’s mind
is too much taken up with his pictures to think
what is in other men’s heads.”
“ Maybe,” replied Balnillo; “ but we’ll know
that better a few days hence. I am not sorry he
has gone to bed.”
“ I will give him an hour to get between his