But it is difficult to be literal
enough to please you. What I ought to have said, what I would have
said if I had realised at the moment that I was talking to you, is
this. We are living the kind of life comparable to that of the people
whose cottages are built round the edge of the crater of an active
volcano, liable to erupt at any moment; or, to change the metaphor, our
position bears a certain resemblance to that of the careless workman
who smokes a pipe on the top of a barrel of blasting powder, and if
we're not extremely careful we'll find ourselves scattered about in
little bits, like the boy who stood on the burning deck. Have you any
fault to find with that way of expressing my thought? or would you like
to have it still further amplified?"
"What I suppose you mean," said the Major, "is that this judge of yours
may possibly recognise Miss King as Mrs. Lorimer."
"Precisely."
"Well, he won't. So you can make your mind easy about that. And if he
did--"
"Have you any reasons to adduce in support of your assertion," said
Meldon; "or are you simply contradicting me for the sake of being
disagreeable?"
"I have one good reason.
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