It needed a moment such as this to stir his sluggish
imagination.
'What you say is true, mother, but we couldn't help it. It's turned
out badly because we live in bad times. It's the state of society
that's to blame.'
He was sincere in saying it; that is to say, he used the phrase so
constantly that it had become his natural utterance in difficulty;
it may be that in his heart he believed it. Who, indeed, shall say
that he was wrong? But what made such an excuse so disagreeable in
his case was that he had not--intellectually speaking--the right to
avail himself of it. The difference between truth and cant often
lies only in the lips that give forth the words.
'Yes, that's what you always said,' replied Mrs. Mutimer
impatiently. 'It's always someone else as is to blame, an' never
yourself. The world's a good enough world if folk 'ud only make it
so. Was it the bad times as made you leave a good, honest girl when
you'd promised to marry her? No, you must have a fine lady for your
wife; a plain girl as earnt her own bread, an' often had hard work
to get it, wasn't good enough for you. Don't talk to me about bad
times. There's some men as does right an' some as does wrong; it
always was so, an' the world's no worse nor no better, an' not
likely to be.'
The poor woman could not be generous.
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