“And I should have answered that the Judge will do right,” said Suton reverently.
“Or if he wanted a text, ‘Who art thou that judgest another?’” said Lillyston contemptuously.
“And I,” said Julian, should have said,—
“Let feeble hands iniquitously just,
Rake up the relics of the sinful dust,
Let Ignorance mock the pang it cannot heal,
And Malice brand what Mercy would conceal;—
It matters not!”
“And I,” said Kennedy, “should have been vehemently inclined to tweak the man’s nose.”
“But what did you say, Mr Admer?” asked Lillyston.
“I answered a fool according to his folly. I threw up my eyes and said, ‘Ah, where, indeed! What a good thing it is that you and I, sir, are not as that publican.’”
“I should think he skewered you with a glance, didn’t he?” said Kennedy.
“No, he was going to bore me with an argument, which I declined.”
“But you’ve all cut the question: tell me now, supposing you had known king David, should you have thought worse of him, should you have been cool to him—in a word, should you have cut him after his fall?”