A third declared that the dog
belonged truly to the Italian, that the stone had been really hurled by
one who stood near the pilgrim, who had been wrongfully accused of the
offence by Maso; that the latter had made his attack under a false
impression, and richly merited punishment for the unceremonious manner in
which he had stopped Conrad's breath. This witness was perfectly honest,
but of a vulgar and credulous mind. He attributed the original offence to
one near that happened to have a bad name, and who was very liable to
father every sin that, by possibility, could be laid at his door, as well
as some that could not. On the other hand, he had also been duped that
morning by the pilgrim's superabundant professions of religious zeal a
circumstance that of itself would have prevented him from detecting
Conrad's arm in the air as it cast the stone, and which served greatly to
increase his certainty that the first offence came from the luckless wight
just alluded to; since they who discriminate under general convictions and
popular prejudices, usually heap all the odium they pertinaciously
withhold from the lucky and the favored, on those who seem fated by
general consent to be the common target of the world's darts.
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