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The Kellys and the O'Kellys by Anthony Trollope
page 322 of 643 (50%)
by the attorney whom he had intended to patronise and convert into a
creature of his own: he could however have borne and put up with all
this, if he could only have got his will of his sister; but to give up
to her, who had been his slave all his life--to own, at last, that he
had no power over her, whom he had always looked upon as so abject, so
mean a thing; to give in, of his own accord, to the robbery which had
been committed on him by his own father; and to do this, while he felt
convinced as he still did, that a sufficiently unscrupulous attorney
could save him from such cruel disgrace and loss, was a trial to which
he could hardly bring himself to submit, crushed and tamed as he was.

He still sat on the edge of the parlour table, and there he remained
mute, balancing the pros and cons of Daly's plan. Daly waited a minute
or two for his answer, and, finding that he said nothing, left him
alone for a time, to make up his mind, telling him that he would return
in about a quarter of an hour. Barry never moved from his position; it
was an important question he had to settle, and so he felt it, for he
gave up to the subject his undivided attention. Since his boyhood he
had looked forward to a life of ease, pleasure, and licence, and had
longed for his father's death that he might enjoy it. It seemed now
within his reach; for his means, though reduced, would still be
sufficient for sensual gratification. But, idle, unprincipled, brutal,
castaway wretch as Barry was, he still felt the degradation of
inaction, when he had such stimulating motives to energy as unsatisfied
rapacity and hatred for his sister: ignorant as he was of the meaning
of the word right, he tried to persuade himself that it would be wrong
in him to yield.

Could he only pluck up sufficient courage to speak his mind to Daly,
and frighten him into compliance with his wishes, he still felt that he
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