I wrote to London at once, and ordered the book." "Wednesday .-- Is there some mysterious influence, in the silent solitude of my life, that is hardening my nature?
Is there something unnatural in the existence of a man who never hears a sound?
Is there a moral sense that suffers when a bodily sense is lost?
"These questions have been suggested to me by an incident that happened this morning.
"Looking out of window, I saw a brutal carter, on the road before the house, beating an over-loaded horse.

A year since I should have interfered to protect the horse, without a moment's hesitation.

If the wretch had been insolent, I should have seized his whip, and applied the heavy handle of it to his own shoulders.

In past days, I have been more than once fined by a magistrate (privately in sympathy with my offence) for assaults committed by me in the interests of helpless animals.

What did I feel now?
Nothing but a selfish sense of uneasiness, at having been accidentally witness of an act which disturbed my composure.