If so, he had got his deserts. It mattered
very little now, and it was a waste of thought to think of him at all.
The young man had a big fire built in the library, and sat down in his
favourite leathern chair under the shaded light. He was tired, but not
sleepy, and he was glad to be alone at last, for he had felt Corbario's
evil presence in the house, though they had met little of late, and it
was a great relief to know that he would never return.
He was glad to be alone, and yet he felt lonely, for the one condition
did not make the other impossible. He was glad to be able to think in
peace, but when he did think, he longed for some companionship in his
thoughts, and he found that he was wishing himself back in the room that
looked down upon the Forum of Trajan, with Aurora, and that she was
telling him again that she could trust him; and yet the very thought
seemed to mean that he was not to be trusted.
Psychological problems are only interesting when they concern other
people than ourselves, for there can be no problem where there is not a
difficulty, and where the inner self is concerned there can be no
difficulty that does not demand immediate solution if we are to find
peace. Some men of very strong and thoughtful character are conscious of
a sort of second self within themselves, to which they appeal in trouble
as Socrates to his Daemon; but most men, in trouble and alone, would turn
to a friend if there were one at hand.
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