IN THE SHADOW
grow and flourish with the reek and the stink of a carnivorous plant in an atmosphere of argument."
"Please go on," said Manning. There was a new note of respect in his voice.
"We must go a step farther, to be honest analysts. While this attraction is, as I have said, in its origin a matter of the spinal cord as distinct from the brain, the latter is bound in time to become conscious of its presence; just as the master of a house will discover, in time, that he is entertaining an unasked guest who may be harbored by other members of his household. The brain then says, 'who have we here?' and subjects this tenant to scrutiny, and it is here that the danger lies, for one of two things will happen: the brain, never infallible, and to my mind rather a feeble substitute for unerring instincts, either ejects this inmate as undesirable or else raises him to the position of honored guest. A primitive emotion will not, as a rule, put muscles in motion until passed upon and approved by a bombastic brain, which is the snobbish element of one's cosmos." He glanced at Manning.
"In other words," said Manning, "you mean that an attraction of this sort is harmless and natural until the person begins to analyze, and tries to adjust the emotions?"
"Precisely. Take the present instance for example. Miss Moultrie is physically attracted by this Haytian; there is no harm in that, but soon she will say: 'Why does this man attract me? He is black, he is brutal, he is grotesque, yet he does attract me. Why? It must be that beneath all of this there is a subtle quality which I can feel but not see; that there is intellectual force,
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