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the new machiavelli-第41章

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〃You see;〃 he went on to explain; 〃Bailey's wanting in the 

essentials。〃



〃What essentials?〃 said I。



〃Oh! he'd be like a nasty oily efficient little machine for some 

merely subordinate necessity among all my delicate stuff。  He'd do 

all we wanted no doubt in the way of money and powersand he'd do 

it wrong and mess the place for ever。  Hands all black; you know。  

He's just a means。  Just a very aggressive and unmanageable means。  

This isn't a plumber's job。 。 。 。〃



I stuck to my argument。



〃I don't LIKE him;〃 said the official conclusively; and it seemed to 

me at the time he was just blind prejudice speaking。 。 。 。



I came nearer the truth of the matter as I came to realise that our 

philosophies differed profoundly。  That isn't a very curable 

difference;once people have grown up。  Theirs was a philosophy 

devoid of FINESSE。  Temperamentally the Baileys were specialised; 

concentrated; accurate; while I am urged either by some Inner force 

or some entirely assimilated influence in my training; always to 

round off and shadow my outlines。  I hate them hard。  I would 

sacrifice detail to modelling always; and the Baileys; it seemed to 

me; loved a world as flat and metallic as Sidney Cooper's cows。  If 

they had the universe in hand I know they would take down all the 

trees and put up stamped tin green shades and sunlight accumulators。  

Altiora thought trees hopelessly irregular and sea cliffs a great 

mistake。 。 。 。   I got things clearer as time went on。  Though it 

was an Hegelian mess of which I had partaken at Codger's table by 

way of a philosophical training; my sympathies have always been 

Pragmatist。  I belong almost by nature to that school of Pragmatism 

that; following the medieval Nominalists; bases itself upon a denial 

of the reality of classes; and of the validity of general laws。  The 

Baileys classified everything。  They were; in the scholastic sense

which so oddly contradicts the modern use of the word—〃Realists。〃  

They believed classes were REAL and independent of their 

individuals。  This is the common habit of all so…called educated 

people who have no metaphysical aptitude and no metaphysical 

training。  It leads them to a progressive misunderstanding of the 

world。  It was a favourite trick of Altiora's to speak of everybody 

as a 〃type〃; she saw men as samples moving; her dining…room became a 

chamber of representatives。  It gave a tremendously scientific air 

to many of their generalisations; using 〃scientific〃 in its 

nineteenth…century uncritical Herbert Spencer sense; an air that 

only began to disappear when you thought them over again in terms of 

actuality and the people one knew。 。 。 。



At the Baileys' one always seemed to be getting one's hands on the 

very strings that guided the world。  You heard legislation projected 

to affect this 〃type〃 and that; statistics marched by you with sin 

and shame and injustice and misery reduced to quite manageable 

percentages; you found men who were to frame or amend bills in grave 

and intimate exchange with Bailey's omniscience; you heard Altiora 

canvassing approaching resignations and possible appointments that 

might make or mar a revolution in administrative methods; and doing 

it with a vigorous directness that manifestly swayed the decision; 

and you felt you were in a sort of signal box with levers all about 

you; and the world outside there; albeit a little dark and 

mysterious beyond the window; running on its lines in ready 

obedience to these unhesitating lights; true and steady to trim 

termini。



And then with all this administrative fizzle; this pseudo…scientific 

administrative chatter; dying away in your head; out you went into 

the limitless grimy chaos of London streets and squares; roads and 

avenues lined with teeming houses; each larger than the Chambers 

Street house and at least equally alive; you saw the chaotic clamour 

of hoardings; the jumble of traffic; the coming and going of 

mysterious myriads; you heard the rumble of traffic like the noise 

of a torrent; a vague incessant murmur of cries and voices; wanton 

crimes and accidents bawled at you from the placards; imperative 

unaccountable fashions swaggered triumphant in dazzling windows of 

the shops; and you found yourself swaying back to the opposite 

conviction that the huge formless spirit of the world it was that 

held the strings and danced the puppets on the Bailey stage。 。 。 。



Under the lamps you were jostled by people like my Staffordshire 

uncle out for a spree; you saw shy youths conversing with 

prostitutes; you passed young lovers pairing with an entire 

disregard of the social suitability of the 〃types〃 they might blend 

or create; you saw men leaning drunken against lamp…posts whom you 

knew for the 〃type〃 that will charge with fixed bayonets into the 

face of death; and you found yourself unable to imagine little 

Bailey achieving either drunkenness or the careless defiance of 

annihilation。  You realised that quite a lot of types were 

underrepresented in Chambers Street; that feral and obscure and 

altogether monstrous forces must be at work; as yet altogether 

unassimilated by those neat administrative reorganisations。







5





Altiora; I remember; preluded Margaret's reappearance by announcing 

her as a 〃new type。〃



I was accustomed to go early to the Baileys' dinners in those days; 

for a preliminary gossip with Altiora in front of her drawing…room 

fire。  One got her alone; and that early arrival was a little sign 

of appreciation she valued。  She had every woman's need of followers 

and servants。



〃I'm going to send you down to…night;〃 she said; 〃with a very 

interesting type indeedone of the new generation of serious gals。  

Middle…class originand quite well off。  Rich in fact。  Her step…

father was a solicitor and something of an ENTREPRENEUR towards the 

end; I fancyin the Black Country。  There was a little brother 

died; and she's lost her mother quite recently。  Quite on her own; 

so to speak。  She's never been out into society very much; and 

doesn't seem really very anxious to go。 。 。 。  Not exactly an 

intellectual person; you know; but quiet; and great force of 

character。  Came up to London on her own and came to ussomeone had 

told her we were the sort of people to advise herto ask what to 

do。  I'm sure she'll interest you。〃



〃What CAN people of that sort do?〃 I asked。  〃Is she capable of 

investigation?〃



Altiora compressed her lips and shook her head。  She always did 

shake her head when you asked that of anyone。



〃Of course what she ought to do;〃 said Altiora; with her silk dress 

pulled back from her knee before the fire; and with a lift of her 

voice towards a chuckle at her daring way of putting things; 〃is to 

marry a member of Parliament and see he does his work。 。 。 。  

Perhaps she will。  It's a very exceptional gal who can do anything 

by herselfquite exceptional。  The more serious they arewithout 

being exceptionalthe more we want them to marry。〃



Her exposition was truncated by the entry of the type in question。



〃Well!〃 cried Altiora turning; and with a high note of welcome; 

〃HERE you are!〃



Margaret had gained in dignity and prettiness by the lapse of five 

years; and she was now very beautifully and richly and simply 

dressed。  Her fair hair had been done in some way that made it seem 

softer and more abundant than it was in my memory; and a gleam of 

purple velvet…set diamonds showed amidst its mist of little golden 

and brown lines。  Her dress was of white and violet; the last trace 

of mourning for her mother; and confessed the gracious droop of her 

tall and slender body。  She did not suggest Staffordshire at all; 

and I was puzzled for a moment to think where I had met her。  Her 

sweetly shaped mouth with the slight obliquity of the lip and the 

little kink in her brow were extraordinarily familiar to me。  But 

she had either been prepared by Altiora or she remembered my name。  

〃We met;〃 she said; 〃while my step…father was aliveat Misterton。  

You came to see us〃; and instantly I recalled the sunshine between 

the apple blossom and a slender pale blue girlish shape among the 

daffodils; like something that had sprung from a bulb itself。  I 

recalled at once that I had found her very interesting; though I did 

not clearly remember how it was she had interested me。



Other guests arrivedit was one of Altiora's boldly blended 

mixtures of people with ideas and people with influence or money who 

might perhaps be expected to resonate to them。  Bailey came down 

late with an air of hurry; and was introduced to Margaret and said 

absolutely nothing to herthere being no information either to 

receive or impart and nothing to dobut stood snatching his left 

cheek until I rescued him and her; and left him free to congratulate 

the new Lady Snape on 
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