このように真面目さを内に秘めているにもかかわらず,彼はほとんどいつも変わりなく陽気であった。彼は長い一日の疲れる責任ある仕事を終えると,あたかもかなりのシャンペンを既に楽しんだかのように,いつも上機嫌で晩餐会にやって来て,いつもみんなを笑わせていた。心不全で突然彼が亡くなったのもある晩餐会の最中であった。多分彼は心不全になりやすいということは知っていたと思われるが,しかし,彼は誰にもそのことは知らせなかった。後になって,彼自身自分は長くは生きられそうもないと思っていた兆候がわずかにあったことを,彼の友達たちは思い起こしたが,それらの兆候は,彼を評価していた人々を積極的に心配させるほどのものではなかった。 |
* From Free animation library https://www.animationlibrary.com/a-l/ He was my lawyer for many years - a somewhat thankless task which he undertook out of friendship. Most of his practice consisted of affairs of great importance, concerning Indian Princes, Dominion Governments, or leading Banks. He showed, in legal matters, unbending straightforwardness, combined with skill and patience - this last truly astonishing, since nature had made him one of the most impatient of men. By these methods, which inspired confidence even in opponents, he achieved results which ingenious trickery could never have achieved. I remember the stony expression which came over his face during the course of a legal consultation when someone suggested a course that was not entirely straightforward. With all his underlying seriousness, he was almost invariably gay. At the end of a long day of exhausting and responsible work he would arrive at a dinner party as jolly as if he had already enjoyed a good dose of champagne, and would keep everybody laughing. It was in the middle of a dinner party that he died, quite suddenly, of heart failure. Probably he had known that this was liable to happen, but he had kept the knowledge to himself. Afterwards, his friends remembered slight indications that he had not expected to live long, but they had not been sufficient to cause active anxiety among those who valued him. |