Mr. Utterson the lawyer was a man of a rugged countenance that was never
lighted by a smile; cold, scanty and embarrassed in discourse; backward in
sentiment; lean, long, dusty, dreary and yet somehow lovable. At friendly
meetings, and when the wine was to his taste, something eminently human beaconed
from his eye; something indeed which never found its way into his talk, but
which spoke not only in these silent symbols of the after-dinnerface, but more
often and loudly in the acts of his life. He was austere with himself; drank gin
when he was alone, to mortify a taste for vintages; and though he enjoyed the
theater, had not crossed the doors of one for twenty years. But he had an
approved tolerance for others; sometimes wondering, almost with envy, at the
high pressure of spirits involved in their misdeeds; and in any extremity
inclined to help rather than to reprove. "I inclineto Cain's heresy,"
he used to say quaintly: "I let my brother go to the devil in his own
way." In this character, it was frequently his fortune to be the last
reputable acquaintance and the last good influence in the lives of downgoing
men. And to such as these, so long as they came about his chambers, he never
marked a shade of change in his demeanour.
No doubt the feat was easy to Mr. Utterson; for he was undemonstrative at the
best, and even his friendship seemed to be founded in a similar catholicity of
good-nature. It is the mark of a modest man to accept his friendly circle
ready-made from the hands of opportunity; and that was the lawyer's way. His
friends were those of his own blood or those whom he had known the longest; his
affections, like ivy, were the growth of time, they implied no aptness in the
object. Hence, no doubt the bond that united him to Mr. Richard Enfield, his
distant kinsman, the well-known man about town. It was a nut to crack for many,
what these two could see in each other, or what subject they could find in
common. It was reported by those who encountered them in their Sunday walks,
that they said nothing, looked singularly dull and would hail with obvious
relief the appearance of a friend. For all that, the two men put the greatest
store by these excursions, counted them the chief jewel of each week, and not
only set aside occasions of pleasure, but even resisted the calls of business,
that they might enjoy them uninterrupted.
Contesta las siguientes preguntas de comprensión
Choose the best answer, a), b) or c)
1. The description of Mr. Utterson’s character is
2. Mr. Utterson drinks alcohol
3. Mr. Utterson made friends
4. The expression ‘It was a nut to crack for many’ means
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