CHAPTER XII.
A MAN JUSTLY POPULAR Now although Mr.Faggus was so clever, and generous, and celebrated, I know not whether, upon the whole, we were rather proud of him as a member of our family, or inclined to be ashamed of him.

And indeed I think that the sway of the balance hung upon the company we were in.

For instance, with the boys at Brendon--for there is no village at Oare--I was exceeding proud to talk of him, and would freely brag of my Cousin Tom.

But with the rich parsons of the neighbourhood, or the justices (who came round now and then, and were glad to ride up to a warm farm-house), or even the well-to-do tradesmen of Porlock--in a word, any settled power, which was afraid of losing things--with all of them we were very shy of claiming our kinship to that great outlaw.
And sure, I should pity, as well as condemn him though our ways in the world were so different, knowing as I do his story; which knowledge, methinks, would often lead us to let alone God's prerogative--judgment, and hold by man's privilege--pity.

Not that I would find excuse for Tom's downright dishonesty, which was beyond doubt a disgrace to him, and no credit to his kinsfolk; only that it came about without his meaning any harm or seeing how he took to wrong; yet gradually knowing it.