."

But the consideration that emerges from these reminiscences is the
somewhat bewildering one, that shyness is a thing which seems to be
punished, both by immediate discomfort and by subsequent fantastic
remorse, far more heavily than infinitely more serious moral lapses.
The repentance that follows sin can hardly be more poignant than the
agonising sense of guilt which steals over the waking consciousness
on the morning that follows some such social lapse. In fact it must
be confessed that most of us dislike appearing fools far more than we
dislike feeling knaves; so that one wonders whether one does not dread
the ridicule and disapproval of society more than one dreads the sense
of a lapse from morality; the philosophical outcome of which would seem
to be that the verdict of society upon our actions is at the base of
morality. We may feel assured that the result of moral lapses will
ultimately be that we shall have to face the wrath of our Creator;
but one hopes that side by side with justice will be found a merciful
allowance for the force of temptation. But the final judgment is in any
case not imminent, while the result of a social lapse is that we have to
continue to face a disapproving and even a contemptuous circle, who will
remember our failure with malicious pleasure, and whose sense of justice
will not be tempered by any appreciable degree of mercy. Here again is
a discouraging circumstance, that when we call to mind some similarly
compromising and grotesque adventure in the life of one of our friends,
in spite of the fact that we well know the distress that the incident
must have caused him, we still continue to hug, and even to repeat, our
recollection of the occasion with a rich sense of joy. Is it that we
do not really desire the peace and joy of others? It would seem so. How
many of us are not conscious of feeling extremely friendly and helpful
when our friend is in sorrow, or difficulty, or discredit, and yet of
having no taste for standing by and applauding when our friend is joyful
and successful! There is nothing, it seems, that we can render to our
friend in the latter case, except the praise of which he has already had
enough!

It seems then that the process of anatomising the nature and philosophy
of shyness only ends in stripping off, one by one, as from an onion, the
decent integuments of the human spirit, and revealing it every moment
more and more in its native rankness. Let me forbear, c