It always bothered him.

It had driven him to hunt the psaltery stick, repent his lie to Garry and water the fern.

It had driven him out upon the road.

Mocking voices rose now from the depths.
Was it--could it all be true?
The shock of the thought was cataclysmic and he longed for the self-respect and confidence in which he had basked that night in Hannah's kitchen.

Must the world side with Brian?
He was sorry about the shotgun.