nely experiences
by the vote of the majority, and the vote of the majority seems to me
essentially a dull and tiresome thing. Of course this sounds to you
the direst egotism; but when one has labelled a thing egotistic, one
has not necessarily condemned it, because the essence of the world is
its egotism. You would no doubt say that we are no more alone than the
leaves of a tree, that the sap which is in one leaf at one moment is
the next moment in another, and that we are more linked than we know.
I would give much to have that sense, but it is denied me, and
meanwhile the pressure of that corporate force of which you speak seems
to me merely to menace my own liberty, which is to me both sacred and
dear."

Sheldon smiled. "Yes," he said, "we do indeed speak different
languages. To me this sense of isolation of which you speak is merely
a melancholy phantom. I rejoice to feel one of a great company, and I
exult when the sap of the great tree flows up into my own small veins;
but do not think that I disapprove of your position. I only feel that
you are doing unconsciously the very thing that I desire you to do.
But at the same time I think that you are missing a great source of
strength, seeing a thing from the outside instead of feeling it from
the inside. Yet I think that is the way in which artists help the
world, through the passionate realisation of themselves. But you must
not think that you are carrying away your share of the spoil to your
lonely tent. It belongs to all of us, even what you have yourself won."

Hugh felt that Sheldon was probably speaking the truth. He thought
long and earnestly over his words. But the practical outcome of his
reflections was that he realised the uselessness of trying to embrace
an idea which one did not instinctively feel. He knew that his real
life did not lie, at all events for the present, in movements and
organisations. They were meaningless words to him. His only
conception of relationships was the personal conception. He desired
with all his heart the uplifting, the amelioration of human beings; he
could contribute best, he thought, to that, by speaking out whatever he
perceived and felt, to such a circle as was in sympathy with him.
Sheldon, no doubt, was doing exactly the same thing; there were
abundance of people in the world, who would agree neither with Sheldon
nor himself, amiable materialists, whose only instinct was to compass
their own prosperity a