MS-WU-MSS008-3-50-1

[1606] like, I still had one bad leg and one good, or rather less bad, with
this difference however, that the less bad now was the less good of
heretofore. [1607] It was therefore onth on the old bad leg that I often
longed to lean, between one crutchstroke and the next. [1608] For while still
extremely sensitive, yet it was less so than the other, or it was equally
so, if you like, but it did not seem so, to me, because of its seniority.

[1609] But I couldn't! [1610] What? [1611] Lean on it. [1612] For it was shortening, don't forget,
whereas the other, though stiffening, was not yet shortening, or so far
behind its fellow that to all intents and purposes, intents and purposes,
I'm lost, who cares ^{[place = supralinear] [⁁]no matter}. [1613] If I could even have bent it, at the knee, or even
at the hip, I could have made it seem as short as the other, long enough
to land on the true short one, before taking off again. [1614] But I couldn't.

[1615] What? [1616] Bend it. [1617] For how could I bend it, when it was stiff? [1618] I was
therefore d ^{[place = overwritten] c}ompelled to work the same old leg as heretofore, in spite of
its having become, on the sensory level at least ^{[place = supralinear] [⁁]at least as far as the pain was concerned}, the worse of the two
and the more in need of nursing. [1619] Sometimes to be sure, when I was lucky
enough to chance on a road conveniently cambered, or by taking advantage
of a not too deep ditch or any other breach of surface, I managed to
lengthen my short leg, for a short time.

[1620] But it had done no work for
so long that it did not know how to go about it. [1621] And I think a pile
of dishes would have better supported me than it, which had so well
supported me, when I was a tiny tot. [1622] And another factor of disequilibrium
was here involg ^{[place = overwritten] v}ed, I mean whether m when I thus made the best of the lie
of the land, I mean my crutches, which I ^{[place = margin left] [₰]} would have needed ^{[place = supralinear] [⁁]to be unequal,} one short and
one long ^{[place = inline] ,} if I was to remain vertical. [1623] No? [1624] I don't know.

[1625] In any case
the ways I went f ^{[place = overwritten] w}ere for the most part little forest paths, that's
understandable, where differences of level, though abounding, were too
confused and too erratic to be of any help to me. [1626] But did it make such
a difference after all, as far as the pain was concerned, whether my leg