"I have gone through madness. That again was part of the
bestiality I had not reckoned with. . . . And unless I take
steps I shall soon be back in worse bestiality, worse madness.
But I am taking steps. . . . And in the meantime, when you read
this you are to be sure that it is written by a man perfectly
sane.
"It is nothing that I have killed Farrell. I could have killed
him, as he could have killed me, at any time. I still think
that, while the pursuit lay with me, my methods were the more
delicate, and that I should never have goaded him to strike as
he goaded me.
"But I will grant that his methods were effective enough: and
along one line I should have allowed them to be original, if I
didn't know that he had picked up the hint of it on the _I'll
Away_. It was _rumour_ that had cursed me there, and he started
to work upon rumour. I had put up a plate in Harley Street, as
you know, upon the dregs of my capital. This meant a certain
bluff upon credit. If my reputation lasted me out six months,
all would be well.
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