Your uncle alone differed with them. He was too
modest a man to say so, but your mother found it out. The
deformity of her beautiful child horrified her. She was desperate
enough to catch at the faintest hope of remedying it that anyone
might hold out to her; and she persuaded your uncle to put his
opinion to the proof. Her horror at the deformity of the child,
and her despair at the prospect of its lasting for life, seem to
have utterly blinded her to all natural sense of the danger of
the operation. It is hard to know how to say it to you, her son,
but it must be told, nevertheless, that one day, when your father
was out, she untruly informed your uncle that his brother had
consented to the performance of the operation, and that he had
gone purposely out of the house because he had not nerve enough
to stay and witness it. After that, your uncle no longer
hesitated. He had no fear of results, provided he could be
certain of his own courage. All he dreaded was the effect on him
of his love for the child when he first found himself face to
face with the dreadful necessity of touching her skin with the
knife."
I tried hard to control myself, but I could not repress a shudder
at those words.
"It is useless to shock you by going into particulars," said the
priest, considerately.
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