The Lesson of the Master by Henry James
page 63 of 88 (71%)
page 63 of 88 (71%)
|
obligations are immense; so that, if you please, we'll say nothing about
her. My boys--my children are all boys--are straight and strong, thank God, and have no poverty of growth about them, no penury of needs. I receive periodically the most satisfactory attestation from Harrow, from Oxford, from Sandhurst--oh we've done the best for them!--of their eminence as living thriving consuming organisms." "It must be delightful to feel that the son of one's loins is at Sandhurst," Paul remarked enthusiastically. "It is--it's charming. Oh I'm a patriot!" The young man then could but have the greater tribute of questions to pay. "Then what did you mean--the other night at Summersoft--by saying that children are a curse?" "My dear youth, on what basis are we talking?" and St. George dropped upon the sofa at a short distance from him. Sitting a little sideways he leaned back against the opposite arm with his hands raised and interlocked behind his head. "On the supposition that a certain perfection's possible and even desirable--isn't it so? Well, all I say is that one's children interfere with perfection. One's wife interferes. Marriage interferes." "You think then the artist shouldn't marry?" "He does so at his peril--he does so at his cost." "Not even when his wife's in sympathy with his work?" |
|