Explore "John Brent" by Theodore Winthrop on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
"I am short, and I shall try to make a long story short," said Padiham. "I wish to tell you, in as few words as I may, why Mr. Clitheroe and his daughter are in my house.
"Look at me, a stunted man! Life in a coal-mine stunted me. I suppose I was born underground. I know that I never remember when I was not at work, either harnessed like a dog, and dragging coals through a shop where I could not stand upright, or, when I grew stronger, -- bigger I was not to grow, -- down in the darkest holes, beating out with a pickaxe stuff to make other men's houses warm and cheery. If I had had air and sun and light and hope, I might have been a shapely man.