It is
indeed the touchstone for character in a new people, for
character acquired as apart from that inherited; it
sometimes reveals surprises. Neither Lorne Murchison nor
Elmore Crow illustrates this point very nearly. Lorne
would have gone into the law in any case, since his
father was able to send him, and Elmore would inevitably
have gone back to the crops since he was early defeated
by any other possibility. Nevertheless, as they walk
together in my mind along the Elgin market square, the
Elgin Collegiate Institute rises infallibly behind them,
a directing influence and a responsible parent. Lorne
was telling his great news.
"You don't say!" remarked Elmore in response to it.
"Lumbago is it? Pa's subject to that too; gets an attack
most springs. Mr Fulke'll have to lay right up--it's the
only thing."
"I'm afraid he will. And Warner never appeared in court
in his life."
"What d'ye keep Warner for, then?"
"Oh, he does the conveyancing. He's a good conveyancer,
but he isn't any pleader and doesn't pretend to be. And
it's too late to transfer the case; nobody could get to
the bottom of it as we have in the time. So it falls on
me."
"Caesar, his ghost! How d'ye feel about it, Lorne? I'd
be scared green. Y'don't TALK nervous. Now I bet you get
there with both feet.
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