Music, to me, is a
succession of sounds more or less painful. I can't even whistle. It's
too bad."
The bishop said:
"If the lives of all of us were written down with the same remorseless
candour, how few would stand the test."
He was thinking of the Devil's Rock.
"I don't trouble about tests," replied Keith. "The whole herd of
humanity adapts its pace to that of the weakest lamb. The capacity of
the weakest lamb--that is the test. I don't consider myself bound to
such a vulgar standard. And how spectacular we are, in matters of
so-called right and wrong. That is because we have painfully cultivated
the social conscience. Posing, and playing to the gallery! Mankind is
curiously melodramatic, my dear fellow; full of affected reverence for
its droll little institutions. As if anybody really cared what another
person does! As if everybody were not chuckling inwardly all the time!"
"Surely there are heights and depths in the matter of conduct?"
"I don't trouble about heights and depths.
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