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Conrad, Joseph, 1857-1924

"Chance"

. . "
"You seem to have studied the man," I observed.
"Studied," repeated Marlow thoughtfully. "No! Not studied. I had no
opportunities. You know that I saw him only on that one occasion I told
you of. But it may be that a glimpse and no more is the proper way of
seeing an individuality; and de Barral was that, in virtue of his very
deficiencies for they made of him something quite unlike one's
preconceived ideas. There were also very few materials accessible to a
man like me to form a judgment from. But in such a case I verify believe
that a little is as good as a feast--perhaps better. If one has a taste
for that kind of thing the merest starting-point becomes a coign of
vantage, and then by a series of logically deducted verisimilitudes one
arrives at truth--or very near the truth--as near as any circumstantial
evidence can do. I have not studied de Barral but that is how I
understand him so far as he could be understood through the din of the
crash; the wailing and gnashing of teeth, the newspaper contents bills,
"The Thrift Frauds. Cross-examination of the accused.


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