"
Thinking it over as they marched along, the respectable members came to
the conclusion that the others, the Hopkins section, were really to
blame for the discomfiture of the expedition. It was they who had
insisted with specious arguments upon an interview at this unseasonable
hour of the morning; as for themselves, they would gladly have waited
for a more suitable occasion. In undertones, low but venomous, they
commented upon the undue haste of Mr. Hopkins and its probable motives.
Later on they understood everything. Then they called him a thief and a
rogue, loudly--but not to his face.
Which shows yet again how inadequately causes and effects are
appreciated here on earth. The dubious Mr. Hopkins may well have been
moved by mercenary considerations. But this fact had nothing to do with
the unsatisfactory issue of the affair. In other words, even as the
Saint, in the matter of that volcanic eruption, had previously gotten
the praise for what was not his merit, so now this sinner was blamed
for what was not his fault.
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