But he doubted both his fitness and his inclination now. He said to
himself that when a man loses heart in his work he should abandon that
work. He tried to muster up a resentful feeling against Sophie Carr for
the emotional havoc she had wrought, and the best he could do was a
despairing pang of loneliness. He wanted her. Above all he wanted her.
And she was a rank infidel--a crass materialist--an intellectual Circe.
Why, in the name of God, he asked himself passionately, must he lose
his heart so fully to a woman with whom he could have nothing more in
common save the common factor that she was a woman and he a man.
Mr. Thompson had not as yet discovered what a highly important factor
that last was.
He managed to get a partial insight into that some three days later, and
the vision was vouchsafed him in a simple and natural manner, although
to him at the time it seemed the most wonderful and unaccountable thing
in the world.