The young man's movements,
however, betrayed no con-
sistency of attention -
not even, for that matter,
when one of his arrests had
proceeded from possibilities
in faces shaded, as they
passed him on the pavement,
by huge beribboned hats, or
more delicately tinted still
under the tense silk of para-
sols held at perverse angles
in waiting victorias.
I admit to having needed
to be trained in the in-
heritance of literature,
as in anything else, for
this comes down and does
proceed from possibility.
I never mind, not having
written a sentence I see
as brilliant, but I have
been astounded to be un-
prepared for it. I know,
it is customary to comp-
lain of Henry James, for
his preservation of pos-
sibility beyond ordinary
endurance. Is there any-
thing worthier enduring?
Henry James
The Golden Bowl
page 1
1904
Alfred A. Knopf
Everyman, 1992©
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