Page:The Princess Casamassima (London and New York, Macmillan & Co., 1886), Volume 2.djvu/93

 that he himself would have done so if he had been trusted and had been bagged.

'I want to have it all drawn up clear first; then I'll go in,' said the fat man, who seemed to think it was expected of him to be reassuring.

'Well, who the dickens is to draw it up, eh? That's what we happen to be talking about,' returned his antagonist the shoemaker.

'A fine example, old man? Is that your idea of a fine example?' Muniment, with his amused face, asked of Poupin. 'A fine example of asininity! Are there capable people, in such plenty, about the place?'

'Capable of greatness of soul, I grant you not.'

'Your greatness of soul is usually greatness of blundering. A man's foremost duty is not to get collared. If you want to show you're capable, that's the way.'

At this Hyacinth suddenly felt himself moved to speak.

'But some one must be caught, always, must he not? Hasn't some one always been?'

'Oh, I daresay you'll be, if you like it!' Muniment replied, without looking at him. 'If they succeed in potting you, do as Hoffendahl did, and do it as a matter of course; but if they don't, make it your supreme duty, make it your religion, to lie close and keep yourself for another go. The world is full of unclean beasts whom I shall be glad to see shovelled away by the thousand; but when it's a question of honest men and men of courage, I protest against the idea that two should be sacrificed where one will serve.'

'Trop d'arithmétique—trop d'arithmétique! That is fearfully English!' Poupin cried.