Why had he not the courage to go to Michael and say
plainly what he thought? 'You have formed a wild scheme, the project
of a fanatic. Its realisation would be a miracle, and in your heart
you must know that Jane's character contains no miraculous
possibilities. You are playing with people's lives, as fanatics
always do. For Heaven's sake, bestow your money on the practical
folks who make a solid business of relieving distress! Jane, I know,
will bless you for making her as poor as ever. Things are going on
about you which you do not suspect. Your son is plotting, plotting;
I can see it. This money will be the cause of endless suffering to
those you really love, and will never be of as much benefit to the
unknown as if practical people dealt with it. Jane is a simple girl,
of infinite goodness; what possesses you that you want to make her
an impossible sort of social saint?' Too hard to speak thus frankly.
Michael had no longer the mental pliancy of even six months ago; his
_idea_ was everything to him; as he became weaker, it would gain the
dire force of an hallucination. And in the meantime he, Sidney, must
submit to be slandered by that fellow who had his own ends to gain.
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