Page 997 - of-human-bondage-

him all his dreams of a rich and varied life. And thinking
over the long pilgrimage of his past he accepted it joyful-
ly. He accepted the deformity which had made life so hard
for him; he knew that it had warped his character, but now
he saw also that by reason of it he had acquired that pow-
er of introspection which had given him so much delight.
Without it he would never have had his keen appreciation
of beauty, his passion for art and literature, and his interest
in the varied spectacle of life. The ridicule and the contempt
which had so often been heaped upon him had turned his
mind inward and called forth those flowers which he felt
would never lose their fragrance. Then he saw that the nor-
mal was the rarest thing in the world. Everyone had some
defect, of body or of mind: he thought of all the people he
had known (the whole world was like a sick-house, and there
was no rhyme or reason in it), he saw a long procession, de-
formed in body and warped in mind, some with illness of
the flesh, weak hearts or weak lungs, and some with illness
of the spirit, languor of will, or a craving for liquor. At this
moment he could feel a holy compassion for them all. They
were the helpless instruments of blind chance. He could
pardon Griffiths for his treachery and Mildred for the pain
she had caused him. They could not help themselves. The
only reasonable thing was to accept the good of men and
be patient with their faults. The words of the dying God
crossed his memory:
Forgive them, for they know not what they do.

Of Human Bondage