"
"But what was it all about? Do you know the man?"
"Ods my life! 'twas a complete stranger, a man, I should guess, of hasty
passions and tetchy temper. By the merest accident, at a somewhat crowded
part, I unluckily elbowed the man into the kennel, and though I
apologized in the handsomest way, he must take offense and seek to cut
off my life, to extinguish me in primo aevo, as Naso would say. But
Atropos was forestalled, my thread of life still falls uncut from
Clotho's shuttle; still, still, my boy, I bear on the torch of life
unextinguished."
Desmond felt that all this fine phrasing, this copious draft from
classical sources, was intended to quench the ardor of his curiosity.
Diggle's explanation was very lame; the fury depicted on the pursuer's
face could scarcely be due to a mere accidental jostling in the street.
And Diggle was certainly not the man to take to his heels on slight
occasion. But, after all, Diggle's quarrels were his own concern. That
his past life included secrets Desmond had long suspected, but he was not
the first man of birth and education who had fallen into misfortune, and
at all events he had always treated Desmond with kindness. So the boy put
the matter from his thoughts.
The incident, however, left a sting of vexation behind it. In agreeing to
accompany Diggle to the East, Desmond had harbored a vague hope of
falling in with Clive and taking service, in however humble a capacity,
with him. It vexed him sorely to think that Clive, whose memory for
faces, as his recognition of Bulger after twelve years had shown, was
very good, might recognize him, should they meet, as the boy who had
played a part in what was almost a street brawl.
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