As I offered this sop to my conscience, I could almost hear O'Farrell
saying, with one of his young laughs, "That's right. Set a thief to
catch a thief!"
At ten o'clock we were to start for Nancy via Commercy, so there would
be little time to reflect, and to act on top of reflection; but my
strait being desperate, I resolved to trust to luck; and to be first on
the field of battle, I knocked at Brian's door at half-past eight.
He was already dressed, and to look at his neat cravat and smoothly
brushed hair no one would have guessed that his toilet had been made by
a blind man. We had not yet exchanged opinions of the O'Farrell family,
and I had come early to get his impressions. They were always as
accurate and quickly built up as his sketches; but since he has been
blind, he seems almost clairvoyant.
"What do you think of those two?" I asked. "Or rather, what do you think
of the man? I know you have to judge by voices; and as the girl hardly
opened her mouth you can't----"
"Queer thing--and I don't quite understand it myself," said Brian; "but
I see Miss O'Farrell more clearly than her brother."
He generally speaks of "seeing people," quite as a matter of course. It
used to give me a sharp pain at my heart; but I begin to take his way
for granted now. "There's something about O'Farrell that eludes
me--slips away like quicksilver. One is charmed with his voice and his
good looks----"
"Brian! Who told you he was good-looking?" I broke in.
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