Page 116 - Fairbrass

This, he knew, was the family lawyer, who

sometimes dropped in on his way to town.
Unobserved the boy sat down by one of the

clipped yew-trees, looking anxiously at his

father, and wondering how soon he would
hear of the terrible thing that had happened

at the Big House,
Thus placed, he could not help over­

hearing the talk that took place between the
two.

M tell you, my dear fellow/ said the

lawyer, ‘ that it’s no use deceiving yourself
any longer. Wholly against my advice,

you have patched things up, and patched
things up, until there isn't a bit of what

we may call the old garment left, and now
the patching itself is worn threadbare and

tumbling to pieces. You are in a corner,

and you must face your difficulties like a
man. ’
‘ When a man finds himself in a corner,’

said Fairbrass’s father, ‘ if there is anything

of the man in him, he puts his back to the
wall and fights to the end/