This eBook was produced by David Widger, widger@cecomet.net
BOOK XII.
CHAPTER I.
THE MAN OF THE WORLD SHOWS MORE INDIFFERENCE TO THE THINGS AND
DOCTRINES OF THE WORLD THAN MIGHT BE SUPPOSED.--BUT HE VINDICATES
HIS CHARACTER, WHICH MIGHT OTHERWISE BE JEOPARDISED, BY THE
ADROITNESS WITH WHICH, HAVING RESOLVED TO ROAST CHESTNUTS IN THE
ASHES OF ANOTHER MAN'S HEARTH, HE HANDLES THEM WHEN HOTTEST BY THE
PROXY OF A--CAT'S PAW.
In the letter which George told Waife he had received from his uncle,
George had an excuse for the delicate and arduous mission he undertook,
which he did not confide to the old man, lest it should convey more hopes
than its nature justified. In this letter, Alban related, with a degree
of feeling that he rarely manifested, his farewell conversation with