He moved
now as though he loved his fellow creatures. One felt, on his entrance into
a room, that the air was clearer, and that one was in the company of a
human being who found the world, quite honestly and naturally, a delightful
place. This was the first effect that success had upon Peter.
And indeed they met him--all of them--with open arms. They saw in him that
burning flame that those who have been for the first time admitted into the
freemasonry of their Art must ever show. Afterwards he would be accustomed
to that country, would know its roads and hills and cities and would be
perhaps disappointed that they were neither as holy nor as eternal as he
had once imagined them to be--now he stood on the hill's edge and looked
down into a golden landscape whose bounds he could not discern. But
they met him too on the personal side. The fact that he had been found
starving in a London garret was of itself a wonderful thing--then he had
in his manner a rough, awkward charm that flattered them with his youth
and inexperience. He was impetuous and confidential and then suddenly
reserved and constrained. But, above it all, it was evident that he wanted
friendliness and good fellowship. He took every one at the value that they
offered to him. He first encouraged them to be at their most human and then
convinced them that that was their natural character.
Pages:
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388