16 The Wine-Dark Sea - Libro della tutto

Patrick O'Brian The Wine-Dark Sea
sanctimonious hypocrite... the silly blackguard
with his 'gates of mercy', his soul to the Devil –
a mercy that includes chains and whips and
branding with a hot iron. Satisfaction. I should
have given it him with the utmost good will:
two ounces of lead or a span of sharp steel;
though common ratsbane would have been
more appropriate.'
'Why, Stephen, you are in quite a passion.'
'So I am. It is a retrospective passion, sure,
but I feel it still. Thinking of that ill-looking
flabby ornamented conceited self-complacent
ignorant shallow mean-spirited cowardly
young shite with absolute power over fifteen
hundred blacks makes me fairly tremble even
now – it moves me to grossness. I should have
kicked him if ladies had not been present.'
'Come in,' called Jack.
'Mr Grainger's duty, sir,' said Norton, 'and the