The subject that worked in Mr Willet's mind, and occasioned these
demonstrations, was no other than his son's bodily disfigurement, which
he had never yet got himself thoroughly to believe, or comprehend.
Shortly after their first meeting, he had been observed to wander, in
a state of great perplexity, to the kitchen, and to direct his gaze
towards the fire, as if in search of his usual adviser in all matters of
doubt and difficulty. But there being no boiler at the Black Lion, and
the rioters having so beaten and battered his own that it was quite
unfit for further service, he wandered out again, in a perfect bog of
uncertainty and mental confusion, and in that state took the strangest
means of resolving his doubts: such as feeling the sleeve of his son's
greatcoat as deeming it possible that his arm might be there; looking at
his own arms and those of everybody else, as if to assure himself that
two and not one was the usual allowance; sitting by the hour together in
a brown study, as if he were endeavouring to recall Joe's image in his
younger days, and to remember whether he really had in those times one
arm or a pair; and employing himself in many other speculations of the
same kind.
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