Explore "The Secret in the Hill" by Bernard Capes on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
When I had been washed, and my cuts and bruises salved, Mr. Sant took me in to dinner, having already sent a message to my uncle that I should be late. I was horribly stiff, with blubber lips, and knobs and swellings everywhere; yet I would not for the world have missed one pang which my jaws suffered in eating. For was not each twinge an earnest to me that I was redeemed in my own eyes? The penance was as gratifying as, I think, a Catholic's must be after confession and absolution given.
Before we were well finished Uncle Jenico came in, a little flurried and apologetic over his intrusion. He had guessed pretty well the reason of my detention, and his anxiety would not let him rest. His hands trembled as he adjusted his spectacles to look at me, and removed and wiped them, and put them on again for a second scrutiny.