So that he uttered it without melancholy or any sign of foreboding.

Even so, however, he had a fear that perhaps his friend might place another interpretation upon the words, and he looked quickly into his face.

He only saw again, however, that puzzling look of envy in Feversham's eyes.
"You see there are worse things which can happen," he continued; "disablement, for instance.

Clever men could make a shift, perhaps, to put up with it.

But what in the world should I do if I had to sit in a chair all my days?
It makes me shiver to think of it," and he shook his broad shoulders to unsaddle that fear.