I've got nothing else out of it and shall get
nothing . . . and therefore I'm justified. Now do you understand a
little, Miss Cardinal?"
She half understood. She understood that he was compelled to do it
just as some men are compelled to go to race meetings and just as
Uncle Mathew was compelled to drink.
But she nevertheless thought it a dreadful pity that he was unable
to stop and interest himself in something else. Then he could see it
so plainly and yet go on! She admired and at the same time pitied
him.
It seemed, this private history of Mr. Magnus, at first sight so far
from Maggie's immediate concerns, her new life, her aunts, the
Chapel and the Chapel world. It was only afterwards, when she looked
back, that she was able to see that all these private affairs of
private people radiated inwards, like the spokes of a wheel, towards
the mysterious inner circle--that inner circle of which she was
already dimly aware, and of which she was soon to feel the heat and
light. She was, meanwhile, so far impressed by Mr. Magnus'
confidences that she borrowed one of his novels from Caroline, who
confided to her that she herself thought it the dullest and most
tiresome of works.
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