But I am always rather puzzled
about these things; all these old ideas about mutual consolation
and advice and improvement and support ought to be THERE--they all
mean something--they mean a great deal! But the moment they are
spoken about, or even thought about, they seem so stuffy and
disgusting. I don't understand it! I feel that one ought to be able
to talk plainly about anything; and yet the more plainly you talk
about such things as these, the more hateful you are, and the
meaner you feel!"
XXVIII
THE VICAR'S VIEW
Another small factor which caused Howard some discomfort was the
conversation of the Vicar. This, at the first sight of Windlow, had
been one of the salient features of the scene. It had been amusing
to see the current of a human mind running so frankly open to
inspection; and, moreover, the Vicar's constantly expressed
deference for the exalted quality of Howard's mind and intellectual
outfit, though it had not been seriously regarded, had at least an
emollient effect. But it is one thing to sit and look on at a play
and to be entertained by the comic relief of some voluble
character, and quite another to encounter that volubility at full
pressure in private life. There was a certain charm at first in the
Vicar's inconsequence and volatility; but in daily intercourse the
good man's lack of proportion, his indiscriminate interest in
things in general, proved decidedly fatiguing.
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