"I've been
observing your uneasiness," said he. "Now listen. It would
be impossible for you to judge me, to understand me. You are
young and as yet small. I am forty, and have lived
twenty-five of my forty years intensely. So, don't fall into
the error of shallow people and size me up by your own foolish
little standards. Do you see what I mean?"
Susan's candid face revealed her guilt. "Yes," said she,
rather humbly.
"I see you do understand," said he. "And that's a good sign.
Most people, hearing what I said, would have disregarded it as
merely my vanity, would have gone on with their silly judging,
would have set me down as a conceited ass who by some accident
had got a reputation. But to proceed--I have not chosen you
on impulse. Long and patient study has made me able to judge
character by the face, as a horse dealer can judge horses by
looking at them. I don't need to read every line of a book to
know whether it's wise or foolish, worth while or not. I
don't need to know a human being for years or for hours or for
minutes even, before I can measure certain things. I measured
you. It's like astronomy. An astronomer wants to get the
orbit of a star. He takes its position twice--and from the
two observations he can calculate the orbit to the inch. I've
got three observations of your orbit. Enough--and to spare."
"I shan't misunderstand again," said Susan.
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