He could not understand, I suppose, that a reputation was, as my mother used to say, like an earthenware plate. ‘The plate is cracked; the reputation is damaged by a criminal sentence. The plate is then mended with rivets and becomes “as good as new”; the reputation is mended by an official pardon. A mended plate or a mended reputation is better than a cracked plate or a damaged reputation. But a plate that has never been cracked and a reputation that has never been damaged are better still.’
