tep he takes. He
knows indeed now that he is by no means the only individual in the world
who harbours these abnormal emotions; he opens his eyes, and marvels to
discover how numerous are his comrades in all social spheres and every
class of industry; he also soon perceives that Urnings, no less than
normal men and women, have developed prostitution, and that male
strumpets can be bought for money just as easily as females.
Accordingly, there is no longer any difficulty for him in gratifying his
sexual impulse. But how differently do things develop themselves in his
case! How far less fortunate is he than normal man!

"Let us assume the luckiest case that can befall him. The sympathetic
friend, for whom he has been sighing all his life, is found. Yet he
cannot openly give himself up to this connection, as a young fellow does
with the girl he loves. Both of the comrades are continually forced to
hide their _liaison_; their anxiety on this point is incessant; anything
like an excessive intimacy, which could arouse suspicion (especially
when they are not of the same age, or do not belong to the same class
in society), has to be concealed from the external world. In this way,
the very commencement of the relation sets a whole chain of exciting
incidents in motion: and the dread lest the secret should be betrayed or
divined, prevents the unfortunate lover from ever arriving at a simple
happiness. Trifling circumstances, which would have no importance for
another sort of man, make him tremble: lest suspicion should awake, his
secret be discovered, and he become a social outcast, lose his official
appointment, be excluded from his profession. Is it conceivable that
this incessant anxiety and care should pass over him without a trace,
and not react upon his nervous system?

"Another individual, less lucky, has not found a sympathetic comrade,
but has fallen into the hands of some pretty fellow, who at the outset
readily responded to his wishes, till he drew the very deepest secret of
his nature forth. At that point the subtlest methods of blackmailing
begin to be employed. The miserable persecuted wretch, placed between
the alternative of paying money down or of becoming socially impossible,
losing a valued position, seeing dishonour bursting upon himself and
family, pays, and still the more he pays, the greedier becomes the
vampire who sucks his life-blood, until at last there lies nothing else
before him except total financi