I am afraid I bored you dreadfully."
The bishop wanted to know.
"Then I may tell you that Monsignor Perrelli does not so much as
mention the South wind. He names all the others and has come capital
observations on the anchorages of the island as adapted to different
winds and seasons. He has also extracted from old chronicles the
records of the great storms of 1136, 1342, 1373, 1460, and so on; but
never discloses the fact that they all blew from the south. He says the
air is pleasant, tempered by gentle breezes from the sea. The word
sirocco does not occur in his pages save once, when he laments its
prevalence on the mainland."
"The old humbug!"
A little shiver ran through Mr. Eames. Then he observed, in a suave
tone of voice:
"He was an historian of the period, an agreeable gentleman telling
others of his kind what he knows will be of interest to them. That is
what makes his work attractive to me: the personality of the writer.
The facts that he records, taken in conjunction with those he slurs
over or omits--they give one such an insight into changing human nature!
You can construct the character of a man and his age not only from what
he does and says, but from what he fails to say and do.
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