It was pure bliss to him to bring us
the first-fruit of the garden, it was like laying it on an altar.
And his fulfilment was in a fine, subtle, exquisite relationship, not of
manners, but subtle interappreciation. He worshipped a finer
understanding and a subtler tact. A further fineness and dignity and
freedom in bearing was to him an approach towards the divine, so he
loved men best of all, they fulfilled his soul. A woman was always a
woman, and sex was a low level whereon he did not esteem himself. But a
man, a doer, the instrument of God, he was really godlike.
Paolo was a Conservative. For him the world was established and divine
in its establishment. His vision grasped a small circle. A finer nature,
a higher understanding, took in a greater circle, comprehended the
whole. So that when Paolo was in relation to a man of further vision, he
himself was extended towards the whole. Thus he was fulfilled. And his
initial assumption was that every signore, every gentleman, was a man of
further, purer vision than himself. This assumption was false. But
Maria's assumption, that no one had a further vision, no one was more
elect than herself, that we are all one flesh and blood and being, was
even more false.
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