Pagina 596 de 657

"You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing

cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood

pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a

disputatious rather than a meditative mood-"you have erred

perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your

statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing

upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is

really the only notable feature about the thing."

"It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter,"

I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism

which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my

friend's singular character.