Passion blurs and
blinds in the region of sexual love: friendship is revealed in its own
white light.
I was introduced after the service to the stranger who had attracted my
attention, and who had given the youthful preacher such a kind and
courteous hearing.
"This is Major McCoy."
He was a full head higher than anybody else as he stood in the aisle. He
bowed with courtly grace as he took my hand, and his face lighted with a
smile that had in it something more than a conventional civility. I felt
that there was a soul beneath that dignified and courtly exterior. His
head displayed great elevation of the cranium, and unusual breadth of
forehead. It was what is called an intellectual head; and the lines
around the eyes showed the traces of thought, and, as it seemed to me, a
tinge of that sadness that nearly always lends its charm to the best
faces.
"I have met a man that I know I shall like," was my gratified
exclamation to the mistress of the parsonage, as I entered.
And so it turned out. He became one of the select circle to whom I
applied the word friend in the sacredest sense. This inner circle can
never be large. If you unduly enlarge it you dilute the quality of this
wine of life.
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