Then suddenly the look changed, the mediaeval remoteness passed, and a thought flashed up into his eyes which made his expression alive with humour.
"Isn't it wonderful, that just when a man feels he wants a rope to hang himself with, the rope isn't to be had ?" he exclaimed.

"Before he can lay his hands on it he wants to hang somebody else, and then he has to pause whether he will or no.

Did I ever tell you the story of the old Irishwoman who lived down at Kenmare, in Kerry?
Well, she used to sit at her doorway and lament the sorrows of the world with a depth of passion that you'd think never could be assuaged.

'Oh, I fale so bad, I am so wake--oh, I do fale so bad,' she used to say.

'I wish some wan would take me by the ear and lade me round to the ould shebeen, and set me down, and fill a noggen of whusky and make me dhrink it--whether I would or no!' Whether I would or no I have to drink the cup of self-denial," Crozier continued, "though Bradley and his gang have closed every door against me here, and I've come back without what I went for at Aspen Vale, for my men were away.