第26章

’There!’saidMrMeagles，’nowyouknowallaboutDoyce。Except，whichIowndoesnotimprovemystateofmind，thatevennowyoudon’thearhimcomplain。’

’Youmusthavegreatpatience，’saidArthurClennam，lookingathimwithsomewonder，’greatforbearance。’

’No，’hereturned，’Idon’tknowthatIhavemorethananotherman。’

’BytheLord，youhavemorethanIhave，though!’criedMrMeagles。

Doycesmiled，ashesaidtoClennam，’Yousee，myexperienceofthesethingsdoesnotbeginwithmyself。Ithasbeeninmywaytoknowalittleaboutthemfromtimetotime。Mineisnotaparticularcase。Iamnotworseusedthanahundredotherswhohaveputthemselvesinthesameposition——thanalltheothers，I

wasgoingtosay。’

’Idon’tknowthatIshouldfindthataconsolation，ifitweremycase；butIamverygladthatyoudo。’

’Understandme!Idon’tsay，’herepliedinhissteady，planningway，andlookingintothedistancebeforehimasifhisgreyeyeweremeasuringit，’thatit’srecompenseforaman’stoilandhope；

butit’sacertainsortofrelieftoknowthatImighthavecountedonthis。’

Hespokeinthatquietdeliberatemanner，andinthatundertone，whichisoftenobservableinmechanicswhoconsiderandadjustwithgreatnicety。Itbelongedtohimlikehissupplenessofthumb，orhispeculiarwayoftiltinguphishatatthebackeverynowandthen，asifhewerecontemplatingsomehalf-finishedworkofhishandandthinkingaboutit。

’Disappointed？’hewenton，ashewalkedbetweenthemunderthetrees。’Yes。NodoubtIamdisappointed。Hurt？Yes。NodoubtIamhurt。That’sonlynatural。ButwhatImeanwhenIsaythatpeoplewhoputthemselvesinthesamepositionaremostlyusedinthesameway——’

’InEngland，’saidMrMeagles。

’Oh!ofcourseImeaninEngland。Whentheytaketheirinventionsintoforeigncountries，that’squitedifferent。Andthat’sthereasonwhysomanygothere。’

MrMeaglesveryhotindeedagain。

’WhatImeanis，thathoweverthiscomestobetheregularwayofourgovernment，itisitsregularway。Haveyoueverheardofanyprojectororinventorwhofailedtofinditallbutinaccessible，andwhomitdidnotdiscourageandill-treat？’

’IcannotsaythatIeverhave。’

’Haveyoueverknownittobebeforehandintheadoptionofanyusefulthing？Everknownittosetanexampleofanyusefulkind？’

’Iamagooddealolderthanmyfriendhere，’saidMrMeagles，’andI’llanswerthat。Never。’

’Butweallthreehaveknown，Iexpect，’saidtheinventor，’aprettymanycasesofitsfixeddeterminationtobemilesuponmiles，andyearsuponyears，behindtherestofus；andofitsbeingfoundoutpersistingintheuseofthingslongsuperseded，evenafterthebetterthingswerewellknownandgenerallytakenup？’

Theyallagreeduponthat。

’Wellthen，’saidDoyce，withasigh，’asIknowwhatsuchametalwilldoatsuchatemperature，andsuchabodyundersuchapressure，soImayknow(ifIwillonlyconsider)，howthesegreatlordsandgentlemenwillcertainlydealwithsuchamatterasmine。

Ihavenorighttobesurprise