|
The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Catriona by Robert Louis Stevenson: So that a man that had no business with him, and either very little
penetration or a furious deal of prejudice, might almost have been
taken in. To me, after my first two interviews, he was as plain as
print; I saw him to be perfectly selfish, with a perfect innocency in
the same; and I would hearken to his swaggering talk (of arms, and "an
old soldier," and "a poor Highland gentleman," and "the strength of my
country and my friends") as I might to the babbling of a parrot.
The odd thing was that I fancy he believed some part of it himself, or
did at times; I think he was so false all through that he scarce knew
when he was lying; and for one thing, his moments of dejection must
have been wholly genuine. There were times when he would be the most
|