Page:Magdalen by J S Machar.pdf/224

 thing was agitating his breast, as if the next moment he were to vault into the saddle of a tall horse, and, when up there, to catch the look of admiration which the people would cast at him.

He told the whole incident: the meeting in that house, the first pure impression, her father, her soul, his desire to bring her back to decent society (he mentioned himself only in a superficial, off-hand way). He spoke of the reserved manner which had since fallen upon her, and of the pleasure which his aunt had in her; excitedly he denied all the contemptible tales which were told of her in the town, and he said that he did not understand it, but that he knew the people well enough to realize that they were only judging her by themselves, just as every judgment in general was only a sentence of the judger’s faults.

He stopped. The doctor arose, lifted his glass, and gave a solemn address in praise of pure humanity, and in praise of Jiří.