Page 95 - erewhon

paid great attention: he was the family straightener. With
this gentleman Mr. Nosnibor retired into another room,
from which there presently proceeded a sound of weeping
and wailing. I could hardly believe my ears, but in a few
minutes I got to know for a certainty that they came from
Mr. Nosnibor himself.
‘Poor papa,’ said Arowhena, as she helped herself com-
posedly to the salt, ‘how terribly he has suffered.’
‘Yes,’ answered her mother; ‘but I think he is quite out of
danger now.’
Then they went on to explain to me the circumstances
of the case, and the treatment which the straightener had
prescribed, and how successful he had been—all which I
will reserve for another chapter, and put rather in the form
of a general summary of the opinions current upon these
subjects than in the exact words in which the facts were de-
livered to me; the reader, however, is earnestly requested
to believe that both in this next chapter and in those that
follow it I have endeavoured to adhere most conscientious-
ly to the strictest accuracy, and that I have never willingly
misrepresented, though I may have sometimes failed to un-
derstand all the bearings of an opinion or custom.

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