Page:Far from the Maddening Girls.djvu/154

 Decidedly there can be nothing pathetic about a house of one’s own and five thousand a year. No, positively it must be my opinions; not only because it is in these alone that I differ from the general run of men, but by reason of my having, at one time or another, expounded them to Miss Berrith with a considerable degree of candour. Clearly, it was my duty to analyze them carefully; and, quite as clearly, there could be no more effective means of so doing than to write out in order the details of life at “Sans Souci.” Forthwith, I set to work upon these notes.

I think that I have been eminently frank, unprejudiced, and accurate, but I am not content with that. It is not enough to put down existing facts fully and fairly: what is necessary is the attainment of a proper perspective. One must put the narrative aside, and then re-read it, after a year or two, in the light of subsequent experience. That is precisely what I propose to do with this simple story,