He does not hunt for his own
sins; he hunts for yours, and hits you on the head when he finds them.
There was something in the notion, he thought, for surely remorse was
rather a provincial sensation; it implies that a man has really done
something wrong, or that he thinks he has; in either case, what was there
to boast of? He had little time for studies, nowadays, but it seemed to
him that the trend of feeling was in the direction of Old Testamentary
ideals. Men were growing tired of offering their other cheek to be
smitten; they found it degrading, as do the Arabs. Why not import some of
these sterner conceptions into our morality, as we import their peppery
curries and kouskous and pilaffs into our cuisine?
He was inclined to say amiable things about the English race. The
Anglo-Saxon, he thought, with his "constitutional non-morality," had come
nearest to discovering a sensible working system of conduct--as a nation.
It is his highest racial virtue to lead the Cosmic Life--to take all he
can get, and ask for more. That is why every one, in his heart of hearts,
envies and admires him.
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