n that.

My uncle had counselled Mr. Parasyte to reduce me to subjection; and
much I marvelled that he had found words to say so much. It was an
evidence of interest in me which he had never before manifested. It
was plain that, in the settlement of the difficulty, I must count upon
the opposition of my uncle, who had already espoused the principal's
side of the quarrel. But I did not make any rash resolves, preferring
to act as my sense of right and justice should dictate when the time
for action came.

As I approached the cottage by the lake, I saw a light in my uncle's
library. My guardian sat up late at night, and rose early in the
morning. He did not sleep well, and he always looked pale and haggard.
He was a misanthrope in the worst sense of the word. He seemed to have
no friends, and to care for no one in the world--not even for himself.
Certainly he had no regard for me.

Of his past history I knew nothing; but I had already concluded that
he had been subjected to some terrible disappointment or injustice. He
appeared to suffer all the time; and if he would have permitted it,
how gladly would I have assuaged his woe by my sympathy! He was cold
and forbidding, and would not permit me to speak a word to him. I had
once tried to make him tell me something about my father and mother;
but, with an expression of angry impatience upon his face, he had
turned and fled in disgust from me.

I longed to know who and what my mother was; but my questions brought
no answer. One day, when my uncle was away, I had crept into his
library, and tried vainly to obtain some information from his books
and papers. He caught me in the room, and drove me out with a curse
upon his lips. After that a spring lock was put upon the door, the key
of which he carried in his pocket.

On the present occasion I had nothing to expect from my uncle; but I
wished to see him, and tell him my story. I knew that he could talk;
for, during the preceding year, a man of thirty, elegantly dressed,
came to the cottage one afternoon, and walked with my uncle into the
grove by the lake. They had business together, and it was not of a
pleasant nature; for, prompted by curiosity, I rowed my skiff up to
the shore, to learn what I might of the stranger's purpose. I could
not understand a word that was said; but my uncle talked rapidly and
fiercely, and a violent altercation ensued, which I feared would end
in blows. The stranger did not come back to the cot