I regard my
position as one of enforced monasticism, and myself as a monk under the
cruellest compulsion. I often wish that I had been brought up as a
journeyman hatter."
"Why a hatter?"
"I'm told it's an active sort of life. You're fast asleep, and I was just
now, when you were preaching. We'd better go to bed. Nine o'clock for
breakfast, I suppose?"
CHAPTER XXV
MR. DOVE'S OPINION
Mr. Thomas Dove, familiarly known among clubmen, attorney's clerks, and,
perhaps, even among judges when very far from their seats of judgment, as
Turtle Dove, was a counsel learned in the law. He was a counsel so learned
in the law, that there was no question within the limits of an attorney's
capability of putting to him that he could not answer with the aid of his
books. And when he had once given an opinion, all Westminster could not
move him from it--nor could Chancery Lane and Lincoln's Inn and the Temple
added to Westminster. When Mr. Dove had once been positive, no man on
earth was more positive. It behooved him, therefore, to be right when he
was positive; and though, whether wrong or right, he was equally stubborn,
it must be acknowledged that he was seldom proved to be wrong.
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