Page:HG Wells--secret places of the heart.djvu/92

80 nutest particles in that tarnish. Who can nevertheless, in some unaccountable way, take in the idea of this universe as one whole,—who begin to dream of taking control of it.”

“That is not a bad statement of the scientific point of view. I suppose I have much the same general idea of the world. On rather more psychological lines.”

“We think, I suppose, said Sir Richmond, of life as something that is only just beginning to be aware of what it is—and what it might be.”

“Exactly,” said the doctor. “Good.”

He went on eagerly. “That is precisely how I see it. You and I are just particles in the tarnish, as you call it, who are becoming dimly awake to what we are, to what we have in common. Only a very few of us have got as far even as this. These others here, for example....”

He indicated the rest of Maidenhead by a movement.

“Desire, mutual flattery, egotistical dreams, greedy solicitudes fill them up. They haven’t begun to get out of themselves.”

“We, I suppose, have,” doubted Sir Richmond.

“We have.”

The doctor had no doubt. He lay back in his chair, with his hands behind his head and his smoke ascending vertically to heaven. With the greatest contentment he began quoting himself. “This getting out of one’s individuality—this con-