To the quietest human being, seated in the quietest house, there will sometimes come a sudden and unmeaning hunger for the possibilities or impossibilities of things; he will abruptly wonder whether the teapot may not suddenly begin to pour out honey or sea-water, the clock to point to all hours of the day at once, the candle to burn green or crimson, the door to open upon a lake or a potato-field instead of a London street. Upon anyone who feels this nameless anarchism there rests for the time being the spirit of pantomime. Of the clown who cuts the policeman in two it may be said (with no darker meaning) that he realizes one of our visions.
'The Defendant.'
JANUARY 25th
Silence is the unbearable repartee.
'Charles Dickens.'
JANUARY 26th
'I am staring,' said MacIan at last, 'at that which shall judge us both.'
'Oh yes,' said Turnbull in a tired way; 'I suppose you mean God.'