And here he is
dead,--to the secret delight of the Judge's enemies, and to the
indignation of all Timberville. At anybody else's door it wouldn't have
seemed so bad. But at Gingerford's! a philanthropist by profession!
author of that beautiful speech you cried over! You will never forgive
him those tears. The greatest crime a man can be guilty of in the eyes
of his constituents is to have been over-praised by them. Woe to him,
when they find out their error! and woe now to the Judge! The fact that
a dozen other influential citizens had also refused shelter to the
vagabond will not help the matter. Those very men will probably be the
first to cry, "Hypocrite! inhuman! a judgment upon him!"--for it is
always the person of doubtful virtue who is most eager to assume the
appearance of severe integrity; and we often flatter ourselves that our
private faults are atoned for, when we have loudly denounced them in
others.
Fortunately, the flower of the Judge's reputation is saved from so
terrible a blight. There is no corpse at his gate; and our speculations
are idle.
This is what had occurred.
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