,,eeldrop ,,and ,,appleplex  ,t4,s4     
,eliot     ,i   ,eeldrop and ,appleplex 
rented two small rooms in a disreputable
 part of town4 ,here they sometimes came
 at nightfall1 here they sometimes      
slept1 and after they had slept1 they   
cooked oatmeal and departed in the      
morning for destinations unknown to each
 other4 ,they sometimes slept1 more     
often they talked1 or looked out of the 
window4  ,they had chosen the rooms and 
the neighborhood with great care4 ,there
 are evil neighborhoods of noise and    
evil neighborhoods of silence1 and      
,eeldrop and ,appleplex preferred the   
latter1 as being the more evil4 ,it was 
a shady street1 its windows were heavily
 curtained2 and over it hung the cloud  
of a respectability which has something 
to conceal4 ,yet it had the advantage of
 more riotous neighborhoods near by1 and
 ,eeldrop and ,appleplex commanded from 
their windows the entrance of a police  
station across the way4 ,this alone     
possessed an irresistible appeal in     

their eyes4 ,from time to time the      
silence of the street was broken2       
whenever a malefactor was apprehended1 a
 wave of excitement curled into the     
street and broke upon the doors of the  
police station4 ,then the inhabitants of
 the street would linger in             
dressing-gowns1 upon their doorsteps3   
then alien visitors would linger in the 
street1 in caps2 long after the centre  
of misery had been engulphed in his     
cell4 ,then ,eeldrop and ,appleplex     
would break off their discourse1 and    
rush out to mingle with the mob4 ,each  
pursued his own line of enquiry4        
,appleplex1 who had the gift of an      
extraordinary address with the lower    
classes of both sexes1 questioned the   
onlookers1 and usually extracted full   
and inconsistent histories3 ,eeldrop    
preserved a more passive demeanor1      
listened to the conversation of the     
people among themselves1 registered in  
his mind their oaths1 their redundance  
of phrase1 their various manners of     

spitting1 and the cries of the victim   
from the hall of justice within4 ,when  
the crowd dispersed1 ,eeldrop and       
,appleplex returned to their rooms3     
,appleplex entered the results of his   
inquiries into large notebooks1 filed   
according to the nature of the case1    
from ,a 7adultery7 to ,y 7yeggmen74     
,eeldrop smoked reflectively4 ,it may be
 added that ,eeldrop was a sceptic1 with
 a taste for mysticism1 and ,appleplex a
 materialist with a leaning toward      
scepticism2 that ,eeldrop was learned in
 theology1 and that ,appleplex studied  
the physical and biological sciences4   
,there was a common motive which led    
,eeldrop and ,appleplex thus to separate
 themselves from time to time1 from the 
fields of their daily employments and   
their ordinarily social activities4     
,both were endeavoring to escape not the
 commonplace1 respectable or even the   
domestic1 but the too well pigeonholed1 
too taken-for-granted1 too highly       
systematized areas1 and1--in the        

language of those whom they sought to   
avoid--they wished to apprehend the     
human soul in its concrete              
individuality4  ,why1 said ,eeldrop1 was
 that fat ,spaniard1 who sat at the     
table with us this evening1 and listened
 to our conversation with occasional    
curiosity1 why was he himself for a     
moment an object of interest to us8 ,he 
wore his napkin tucked into his chin1 he
 made unpleasant noises while eating1   
and while not eating1 his way of        
crumbling bread between fat fingers made
 me extremely nervous3 he wore a        
waistcoat cafe au lait1 and black boots 
with brown tops4 ,he was oppressively   
gross and vulgar2 he belonged to a type1
 he could easily be classified in any   
town of provincial ,spain4 ,yet under   
the circumstances--when we had been     
discussing marriage1 and he suddenly    
leaned forward and exclaimed3 ',i was   
married once myself'--we were able to   
detach him from his classification and  
regard him for a moment as an unique    

being1 a soul1 however insignificant1   
with a history of its own1 once for all4
 ,it is these moments which we prize1   
and which alone are revealing4 ,for any 
vital truth is incapable of being       
applied to another case3 the essential  
is unique4 ,perhaps that is why it is so
 neglected3 because it is useless4 ,what
 we learned about that ,spaniard is     
incapable of being applied to any other 
,spaniard1 or even recalled in words4   
,with the decline of orthodox theology  
and its admirable theory of the soul1   
the unique importance of events has     
vanished4 ,a man is only important as he
 is classed4 ,hence there is no tragedy1
 or no appreciation of tragedy1 which is
 the same thing4 ,we had been talking of
 young ,bistwick1 who three months ago  
married his mother's housemaid and now  
is aware of the fact4 ,who appreciates  
the truth of the matter8 ,not the       
relatives1 for they are only moved by   
affection1 by regard for ,bistwick's    
interests1 and chiefly by their         

collective feeling of family disgrace4  
,not the generous minded and thoughtful 
outsider1 who regards it merely as      
evidence for the necessity of divorce   
law reform4 ,bistwick is classed among  
the unhappily married4 ,but what        
,bistwick feels when he wakes up in the 
morning1 which is the great important   
fact1 no detached outsider conceives4   
,the awful importance of the ruin of a  
life is overlooked4 ,men are only       
allowed to be happy or miserable in     
classes4 ,in ,gopsum ,street a man      
murders his mistress4 ,the important    
fact is that for the man the act is     
eternal1 and that for the brief space he
 has to live1 he is already dead4 ,he is
 already in a different world from ours4
 ,he has crossed the frontier4 ,the     
important fact is that something is done
 which can not be undone--a possibility 
which none of us realize until we face  
it ourselves4 ,for the man's neighbors  
the important fact is what the man      
killed her with8 ,and at precisely what 

time8 ,and who found the body8 ,for the 
'enlightened public' the case is merely 
evidence for the ,drink question1 or    
,unemployment1 or some other category of
 things to be reformed4 ,but the        
mediaeval world1 insisting on the       
eternity of punishment1 expressed       
something nearer the truth4  ,what you  
say1 replied ,appleplex1 commands my    
measured adherence4 ,i should think1 in 
the case of the ,spaniard1 and in the   
many other interesting cases which have 
come under our attention at the door of 
the police station1 what we grasp in    
that moment of pure observation on which
 we pride ourselves1 is not alien to the
 principle of classification1 but       
deeper4 ,we could1 if we liked1 make    
excellent comment upon the nature of    
provincial ,spaniards1 or of destitution
 7as misery is called by the            
philanthropists71 or on homes for       
working girls4 ,but such is not our     
intention4 ,we aim at experience in the 
particular centres in which alone it is 

evil4 ,we avoid classification4 ,we do  
not deny it4 ,but when a man is         
classified something is lost4 ,the      
majority of mankind live on paper       
currency3 they use terms which are      
merely good for so much reality1 they   
never see actual coinage4  ,i should go 
even further than that1 said ,eeldrop4  
,the majority not only have no language 
to express anything save generalized    
man2 they are for the most part unaware 
of themselves as anything but           
generalized men4 ,they are first of all 
government officials1 or pillars of the 
church1 or trade unionists1 or poets1 or
 unemployed2 this cataloguing is not    
only satisfactory to other people for   
practical purposes1 it is sufficient to 
themselves for their 'life of the       
spirit4' ,many are not quite real at any
 moment4 ,when ,wolstrip married1 ,i am 
sure he said to himself3 ',now ,i am    
consummating the union of two of the    
best families in ,philadelphia4'  ,the  
question is1 said ,appleplex1 what is to

 be our philosophy4 ,this must be       
settled at once4 ,mrs4 ,howexden        
recommends me to read ,bergson4 ,he     
writes very entertainingly on the       
structure of the eye of the frog4  ,not 
at all1 interrupted his friend4 ,our    
philosophy is quite irrelevant4 ,the    
essential is1 that our philosophy should
 spring from our point of view and not  
return upon itself to explain our point 
of view4 ,a philosophy about intuition  
is somewhat less likely to be intuitive 
than any other4 ,we must avoid having a 
platform4  ,but at least1 said          
,appleplex1 we are444  ,individualists4 
,no66 nor anti-intellectualists4 ,these 
also are labels4 ,the 'individualist' is
 a member of a mob as fully as any other
 man3 and the mob of individualists is  
the most unpleasing1 because it has the 
least character4 ,nietzsche was a       
mob-man1 just as ,bergson is an         
intellectualist4 ,we cannot escape the  
label1 but let it be one which carries  
no distinction1 and arouses no          

self-consciousness4 ,sufficient that we 
should find simple labels1 and not      
further exploit them4 ,i am1 ,i confess 
to you1 in private life1 a              
bank-clerk4444  ,and should1 according  
to your own view1 have a wife1 three    
children1 and a vegetable garden in a   
suburb1 said ,appleplex4  ,such is      
precisely the case1 returned ,eeldrop1  
but ,i had not thought it necessary to  
mention this biographical detail4 ,as it
 is ,saturday night1 ,i shall return to 
my suburb4 ,tomorrow will be spent in   
that garden4444  ,i shall pay my call on
 ,mrs4 ,howexden1 murmured ,appleplex4  
,,ii   ,the suburban evening was grey   
and yellow on ,sunday2 the gardens of   
the small houses to left and right were 
rank with ivy and tall grass and lilac  
bushes2 the tropical ,south ,london     
verdure was dusty above and mouldy      
below2 the tepid air swarmed with flies4
 ,eeldrop1 at the window1 welcomed the  
smoky smell of lilac1 the gramaphones1  
the choir of the ,baptist chapel1 and   

the sight of three small girls playing  
cards on the steps of the police        
station4  ,on such a night as this1 said
 ,eeldrop1 ,i often think of            
,scheherazade1 and wonder what has      
become of her4  ,appleplex rose without 
speaking and turned to the files which  
contained the documents for his ,survey 
of ,contemporary ,society4 ,he removed  
the file marked ,london from between the
 files ,barcelona and ,boston where it  
had been misplaced1 and turned over the 
papers rapidly4 ,the lady you mention1  
he rejoined at last1 whom ,i have listed
 not under ,s4 but as ,edith1 alias     
,scheherazade1 has left but few         
evidences in my possession4 ,here is an 
old laundry account which she left for  
you to pay1 a cheque drawn by her and   
marked ',r_/,d1' a letter from her      
mother in ,honolulu 7on ruled paper71 a 
poem written on a restaurant bill--',to 
,atthis'--and a letter by herself1 on   
,lady ,equistep's best notepaper1       
containing some damaging but            

entertaining information about ,lady    
,equistep4 ,then there are my own few   
observations on two sheets of foolscap4 
,edith1 murmured ,eeldrop1 who had not  
been attending to this catalogue1 ,i    
wonder what has become of her4 ',not    
pleasure1 but fulness of life444 to burn
 ever with a hard gem-like flame1' those
 were her words4 ,what curiosity and    
passion for experience6 ,perhaps that   
flame has burnt itself out by now4  ,you
 ought to inform yourself better1 said  
,appleplex severely1 ,edith dines       
sometimes with ,mrs4 ,howexden1 who     
tells me that her passion for experience
 has taken her to a ,russian pianist in 
,bayswater4 ,she is also said to be     
present often at the ,anarchist ,tea    
,rooms1 and can usually be found in the 
evening at the ,cafe de l',orangerie4   
,well1 replied ,eeldrop1 ,i confess that
 ,i prefer to wonder what has become of 
her4 ,i do not like to think of her     
future4 ,scheherazade grown old6 ,i see 
her grown very plump1 full-bosomed1 with

 blond hair1 living in a small flat with
 a maid1 walking in the ,park with a    
,pekinese1 motoring with a ,jewish      
stock-broker4 ,with a fierce appetite   
for food and drink1 when all other      
appetite is gone1 all other appetite    
gone except the insatiable increasing   
appetite of vanity2 rolling on two wide 
legs1 rolling in motorcars1 rolling     
toward a diabetic end in a seaside      
watering place4  ,just now you saw that 
bright flame burning itself out1 said   
,appleplex1 now you see it guttering    
thickly1 which proves that your vision  
was founded on imagination1 not on      
feeling4 ,and the passion for           
experience--have you remained so        
impregnably ,pre-,raphaelite as to      
believe in that8 ,what real person1 with
 the genuine resources of instinct1 has 
ever believed in the passion for        
experience8 ,the passion for experience 
is a criticism of the sincere1 a creed  
only of the histrionic4 ,the passionate 
person is passionate about this or that1

 perhaps about the least significant    
things1 but not about experience4 ,but  
,marius1 des ,esseintes1 ,edith444  ,but
 consider1 said ,eeldrop1 attentive only
 to the facts of ,edith's history1 and  
perhaps missing the point of            
,appleplex's remarks1 her unusual       
career4 ,the daughter of a piano tuner  
in ,honolulu1 she secured a scholarship 
at the ,university of ,california1 where
 she graduated with ,honors in ,social  
,ethics4 ,she then married a celebrated 
billiard professional in ,san           
,francisco1 after an acquaintance of    
twelve hours1 lived with him for two    
days1 joined a musical comedy chorus1   
and was divorced in ,nevada4 ,she turned
 up several years later in ,paris and   
was known to all the ,americans and     
,english at the ,cafe du ,dome as ,mrs4 
,short4 ,she reappeared in ,london as   
,mrs4 ,griffiths1 published a small     
volume of verse1 and was accepted in    
several circles known to us4 ,and now1  
as ,i still insist1 she has disappeared 

from society altogether4  ,the memory of
 ,scheherazade1 said ,appleplex1 is to  
me that of ,bird's custard and prunes in
 a ,bloomsbury boarding house4 ,it is   
not my intention to represent ,edith as 
merely disreputable4 ,neither is she a  
tragic figure4 ,i want to know why she  
misses4 ,i cannot altogether analyse her
 'into a combination of known elements' 
but ,i fail to touch anything definitely
 unanalysable4  ,is ,edith1 in spite of 
her romantic past1 pursuing steadily    
some hidden purpose of her own8 ,are her
 migrations and eccentricities the sign 
of some unguessed consistency8 ,i find  
in her a quantity of shrewd observation1
 an excellent fund of criticism1 but ,i 
cannot connect them into any peculiar   
vision4 ,her sarcasm at the expense of  
her friends is delightful1 but ,i doubt 
whether it is more than an attempt to   
mould herself from outside1 by the      
impact of hostilities1 to emphasise her 
isolation4 ,everyone says of her1 ',how 
perfectly impenetrable6' ,i suspect that

 within there is only the confusion of a
 dusty garret4  ,i test people1 said    
,eeldrop1 by the way in which ,i imagine
 them as waking up in the morning4 ,i am
 not drawing upon memory when ,i imagine
 ,edith waking to a room strewn with    
clothes1 papers1 cosmetics1 letters and 
a few books1 the smell of ,violettes de 
,parme and stale tobacco4 ,the sunlight 
beating in through broken blinds1 and   
broken blinds keeping out the sun until 
,edith can compel herself to attend to  
another day4 ,yet the vision does not   
give me much pain4 ,i think of her as an
 artist without the slightest artistic  
power4  ,the artistic temperament--     
began ,appleplex4  ,no1 not that4       
,eeldrop snatched away the opportunity4 
,i mean that what holds the artist      
together is the work which he does2     
separate him from his work and he either
 disintegrates or solidifies4 ,there is 
no interest in the artist apart from his
 work4 ,and there are1 as you said1     
those people who provide material for   

the artist4 ,now ,edith's poem ',to     
,atthis' proves beyond the shadow of a  
doubt that she is not an artist4 ,on the
 other hand ,i have often thought of    
her1 as ,i thought this evening1 as     
presenting possibilities for poetic     
purposes4 ,but the people who can be    
material for art must have in them      
something unconscious1 something which  
they do not fully realise or understand4
 ,edith1 in spite of what is called her 
impenetrable mask1 presents herself too 
well4 ,i cannot use her2 she uses       
herself too fully4 ,partly for the same 
reason ,i think1 she fails to be an     
artist3 she does not live at all upon   
instinct4 ,the artist is part of him a  
drifter1 at the mercy of impressions1   
and another part of him allows this to  
happen for the sake of making use of the
 unhappy creature4 ,but in ,edith the   
division is merely the rational1 the    
cold and detached part of the artist1   
itself divided4 ,her material1 her      
experience that is1 is already a mental 

product1 already digested by reason4    
,hence ,edith 7,i only at this moment   
arrive at understanding7 is really the  
most orderly person in existence1 and   
the most rational4 ,nothing ever happens
 to her2 everything that happens is her 
own doing4  ,and hence also1 continued  
,appleplex1 catching up the thread1     
,edith is the least detached of all     
persons1 since to be detached is to be  
detached from one's self1 to stand by   
and criticise coldly one's own passions 
and vicissitudes4 ,but in ,edith the    
critic is coaching the combatant4       
,edith is not unhappy4  ,she is         
dissatisfied1 perhaps4  ,but again ,i   
say1 she is not tragic3 she is too      
rational4 ,and in her career there is no
 progression1 no decline or             
degeneration4 ,her condition is once and
 for always4 ,there is and will be no   
catastrophe4  ,but ,i am tired4 ,i still
 wonder what ,edith and ,mrs4 ,howexden 
have in common4 ,this invites the       
consideration 7you may not perceive the 

connection7 of ,sets and ,society1 a    
subject which we can pursue tomorrow    
night4  ,appleplex looked a little      
embarrassed4 ,i am dining with ,mrs4    
,howexden1 he said4 ,but ,i will reflect
 upon the topic before ,i see you again4