This was commonly included by collectors among the
Paradoxes of Mr.
We are all very proud of our Pond and of his
paradoxes. And when Iheard a distant splash, I knew he had thrown the corpse into
theriver. Gahagan said you would explain everything, said Wotton, withcontrolled
satire.
Its a serious thing, said Pond, gravely, to accuse
a soldier ofrunning away. Whatcould it mean, except that, far worse than one who
practised vice,I admired it? One could not say any worse of him than that. It isnt
quite so common to see atropical plant ringing the bell and coming in at the front
door.
Only then, for thesecond time that night, I saw
what the vicar did not see.
But a damned sight sillier paradox than any ofyour
paradoxes, Pond.
Youve said that before, said Sir Hubert rather
irritably. You evidently guessed the real story, I dont know how,before I began to
tell it.
Pitt-Palmer, unaccountablytumbled down
dead.
As they passed out, theyseemed to have taken on new
shapes, new outlines. He hasnt enough mind to know that he has amind. And indeed the
man who did so, though he might be ablackguard, would certainly not be a thief. I
was the new hypocrite; but mine was the homage thatvirtue pays to vice. That, at
least, was what I was supposed tobe. I nearly did it, merely to be suspected
byfools.
In the general view ofsociety, Miss Joan Varney was
the sister of Miss Violet Varney.
Only my rival wasnt the artist with the long hair,
said Gahagan. To confess that I am not a dangerous man . By the way, if what you say
is true, this must have happened verylately. But what did that mean, except
thespiritual blasphemy that I wanted to seem worse than I was?
Its a much more serious thing of which the vicar
accuses him,said Green.
But a damned sight sillier paradox than any ofyour
paradoxes, Pond.