I insulted him. He looked at me in slow and smiling surprise.“I fght you?Why?”he asked slowly. And then he laughed.“You are so funny!Ho! ho!Youll be the death of me!Hee! hee! hee!Oh!Ho! ho! ho!”
What would you?It was past endurance. By the blood of Judas, how I hated him!Then there was that name-Claverhouse!What a name!Wasnt it absurd?Claverhouse!Merciful heaven, why Claverhouse?Again and again I asked myself that question. I should not have minded Smith, or Brown, or Jones-but Claverhouse!I leave it to you. Repeat it to yourself-Claverhouse. Just listen to the ridiculous sound of it-Claverhouse!Should a man live with such a name?I ask of you.“No,”you say. And“No”said I.