The figures
from the background of the stage moved forward a little into the
light--nearer to the inevitable action. In a word this man's arrival
intensified the whole affair.
And, looking back down the years to the time when all this happened, it
is clear to me that he had a pretty sharp idea of the meaning of it from
the very beginning. How much he knew beforehand by his strange divining
powers, it is impossible to say, but from the moment he came upon the
scene and caught within himself the note of what was going on amongst
us, he undoubtedly held the true solution of the puzzle and had no need
to ask questions. And this certitude it was that set him in such an
atmosphere of power and made us all look to him instinctively; for he
took no tentative steps, made no false moves, and while the rest of us
floundered he moved straight to the climax. He was indeed a true diviner
of souls.
I can now read into his behaviour a good deal that puzzled me at the
time, for though I had dimly guessed the solution, I had no idea how he
would deal with it.
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