ARTHUR
81

Just as I entered the room, Mervyn turned to me, and said, in an anxious and impatient tone, "Pray, my friend, do you know about Francis Carlton?"

The mention of this name by Mervyn caused a surprise. I acknowledge my acquaintance with him.

"Do you know in what situation he is now?"

To answer this question, I state in the sole sense what the situation has been told to me, and the purpose of the achievement I have just returned. I asked in turn, "Where does this question come from?"

He's heard Carlton's name in prison. Two people were communicating in a corner, and an accident allowed him to catch this name, although it was spoken by them in half a whisper, he said, and to find that the person being talked about lately has been conveyed there.

This name is not heard for the first time. It was related to the memories that made him anxious about the fate of him who had it. In a conversation with my wife, this name was mentioned again, and her curiosity rose again. I was willing to communicate everything I knew, but Mervyn's own fate was too overwhelming not to absorb all my attention, and I refused to discuss any other theme until it was fully explained. He delayed his own gratification to my satisfaction, and agreed to tell me the incident that had occurred from the moment of our separation to the present.

When parting ways with you, my goal was to reach the Hadwin family's residence as quickly as possible. So I travel with perseverance. Departing early in the morning, I hope, even on foot, to reach the end of my journey before noon. Muscle activity is not an obstacle to thinking. Far from being inconsistent with intense contemplation, in my own case, it is advantageous to that state of mind.

Perhaps no one has a stronger motive to meditate with zeal than I do. My second trip to the city was driven by reason, and accompanied by an incident, which seemed to have a present existence. Thinking of them means seeing, more deliberately and thoroughly, objects and people still hovering before my eyes. Instead of their attributes already being seen, and the consequences in the end, it seemed like a series of years and endless contemplation was needed to fully understand them, and realize their most important effects.

If human beings are primarily distinguished from each other by the ways in which attention is used, either on external objects and senses, or only on abstract ideas and reflection beings, I can rightly claim to be enrolled in the second class. My existence is a series of thoughts rather than movements. Ratio and deduction make my senses idle. The fullness of my fantasies left my eyes empty and inactive. The sensation does not precede and suggest, but follows and secondary to the action of my mind.

However, there was one motive that made me pay less attention to the ever-changing scenery before and without me than I used to. The most beautiful form I have ever seen to date is Clemenza Lodi. I remember his condition as I witnessed it, as Welbeck explained, and as you painted it. The past is without a cure; but the future, to some degree, is in our power to create and fashion. It may be dangerous. He may already be sad, beset by temptation or grief; or danger may just approach him, and the worst evil will come.

I don't know how he is. Can I not erase this ignorance? Was there no benefit he gained from a good and timely interposition?

You've mentioned that she's been living with Mrs Villars lately, and that this woman still lives in the countryside. The residence has been adequately described, and I feel that I am now approaching it. In no time I saw his painted roof and five chimneys through the catalpa street .

But how should I insert? I was a stranger to his language, and he didn't know mine. In order to gain access to it, it was only necessary to sue him. But how should I explain my views and express my wishes when the interview is obtained? What wisdom can I offer?

“Now,” I said, “I feel the value of wealth that I have used to despise . The power of eating and drinking, the nature and limits of physical existence and enjoyment, is not altered or magnified by the increase in wealth. Our physical and intellectual desires are supplied at little cost; but our own desires are the desires of others, and what remains, after our own needs have been removed, is removed, it is always easy and fair to use in alleviating the needs of others.

“There are no excess items in my store. It is not my authority to give this poor girl decent clothes and honest bread. I don't have a house to drive him. I had no way to protect her from hunger and cold.

"However, despite being poor and weak, I have no shortage of friends and a home. Can't she be treated in the same mental hospital I'm going to?" This thought was sudden and new. The more it spins, the more reasonable it seems. This is not only the only way, but the best that can be suggested.

Hadwin's family was friendly, friendly, unsuspecting. Their boards, though simple and crude, are healthy and plentiful. Their dwellings were exiled and obscure, and did not interfere with brazen questions and ferocious hatred. Their honest and sincere temperament will make them easily persuaded, and their sympathy is quick and overflowing.

"I'm almost sure," I continued, "that they will soon provide protection to this lonely girl. Why don't I anticipate their approval, and show myself on their embrace and welcome at his company?"

A little reflection shows me that this rainfall is not right. Whether Wallace ever arrived in Malverton, whether Mr. Hadwin had escaped infection, whether his home was a safe and quiet residence, or a quiet place, remains a question to be determined. The clear and best course of action is to rush forward, giving Hadwin's family, if in trouble, the weak consolation of my friendship; or, if their country is happy, to get their approval with the scheme I respect Clementine .

Encouraged by this consideration, I continued on my journey. Looking ahead, I saw a recliner and a horse standing near the left fence, a few hundred meters away. This object is not uncommon or strange, and, therefore, is rarely noticed. However, as I approached, I thought I recognized in this carriage the same thing in which my interests had gained a seat for the languishing Wallace, in the way I had told you before.

It was a crazy and old-fashioned vehicle. When one sees it it is almost impossible to be wrong or forgotten. The horse was held by his bridle to a pole, but his seat was empty. My concern with respect to Wallace's destiny, where he who owned the chariot might have given me some knowledge, made me stop and reflect on what actions were worth doing.

Riders could not be at a great distance from this place. His absence will probably be brief. By lingering a few minutes an interview may be obtained, and the uncertainty and tension of a few hours is thus hindered. I therefore waited, and the same person I had met before appeared, in no time at all, from under the bushes that circled the road.

He recognized me with more difficulty than attending to my confession about him. However, the circumstances of our first meeting were easily remembered in his memory. I eagerly inquired when and where he parted with the young man who, on that occasion, was entrusted with his care.