He guessed the secret unpardonable crime which he had
committed against them; he had overstepped the limits of the
jurisdiction of their mediocrity. He had resisted their inquisitorial
tyranny; he could dispense with their society; and all of them,
therefore, had instinctively combined to make him feel their power,
and to take revenge upon this incipient royalty by submitting him to a
kind of ostracism, and so teaching him that they in their turn could
do without him.
Pity came over him, first of all, at this aspect of mankind, but very
soon he shuddered at the thought of the power that came thus, at will,
and flung aside for him the veil of flesh under which the moral nature
is hidden away. He closed his eyes, so as to see no more. A black
curtain was drawn all at once over this unlucky phantom show of truth;
but still he found himself in the terrible loneliness that surrounds
every power and dominion. Just then a violent fit of coughing seized
him. Far from receiving one single word--indifferent, and meaningless,
it is true, but still containing, among well-bred people brought
together by chance, at least some pretence of civil commiseration--he
now heard hostile ejaculations and muttered complaints.
Pages:
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374