Whether it was that he considered the circumstance of the lad's birth
entitled him to peculiar consideration, or that he transferred to him
the affection he bore his father, the result was that his nephew was
quite as dear if not even dearer to Mr. Caresfoot than his own son.
Not, however, that he allowed his preference to be apparent, save in
the negative way that he was blind to faults in George that he was
sufficiently quick to note in Philip. To observers this partiality
seemed the more strange when they thought upon Philip's bonny face and
form, and then noted how the weak-brained father and coarse-blooded
mother had left their mark in George's thick lips, small, restless
eyes, pallid complexion, and loose-jointed form.
When Philip shook off his cousin's grasp and vanished towards the
lake, he did so with bitter wrath and hatred in his heart, for he saw
but too clearly that he had deeply injured himself in his father's
estimation, and, what was more, he felt that so much as he had sunk
his side of the balance, by so much he had raised up that of George.
He was inculpated; a Bellamy came upon the scene to save George, and,
what was worse, an untruthful Bellamy; he was the aggressor, and
George the meek in spirit with the soft answer that turneth away
wrath.
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