'That is true; but we must not forget that they themselves plaited the thorns too often, just as we other ordinary mortals do.'
'Ah, but they suffer more; they have less "certainty of waking bliss." Genius has never been truly acclimatized in the world. The Philistines always long to put out the eyes of poets, and make them grind corn at Gaza.'
There was a touch of scorn in Stella's voice and a light in her eyes which were not lost on her companion, who, indeed, found an evident pleasure in looking at her, as well as hearing her speak.
'But you must not forget that poets are by nature very vocal, and able to record their joys and woes with cunning effect. Now take the dumb, patient way in which the poor—women among them, especially—suffer. It is nothing uncommon to find a woman has been enduring acute pain at intervals for years, and all the time going about her work as if nothing were the matter, and saying very little about it. That, to my mind, is true heroism. If a poet could ever suffer in the same way, for a month, say—ye gods! what despairing odes—what declamatory appeals to an unrighteous Heaven!'
'You talk almost like a heretic.'
'Perhaps I say what appears to me true; that is often the worst sort of heresy.'
'But surely not if your truth is really true,' said Stella, with an arch smile.
'Ah, that is a burning question,' returned Langdale, with an answering smile. 'But without going into the more serious aspect of affairs—though we should not choose to be in error—yet are there not many things in which illusions help people more than the truth? Isn't that perhaps one reason why things, as they are, remain for the most part so carefully masked?'
'I must think over that before I commit myself. But about the poets; isn't it their vocation to see the "passionate expression" not only in the face of all science, but to put into words what others dumbly endure? When Shelley says:
'"I could lie down like a tired child
And weep away this life of care,
Which I have borne and still must bear,"