Many people had listened to this
impassioned but despairing cry from some remote and charmed solitude,
who had never read poetry before, who translated it into their own
limited vocabulary and more limited experience, and were inexpressibly
affected to find that they, too, understood it; it was caught up and
echoed by the feverish, adventurous, and unsatisfied life that filled
that day and time. Even the editor was surprised and frightened. Like
most cultivated men, he distrusted popularity: like all men who believe
in their own individual judgment, he doubted collective wisdom. Yet
now that his protegee had been accepted by others, he questioned that
judgment and became her critic. It struck him that her sudden outburst
was strained; it seemed to him that in this mere contortion of passion
the sibyl's robe had become rudely disarranged. He spoke to Hamlin, and
even approached the tabooed subject.
"Did you see anything that suggested this sort of business in--in--that
woman--I mean in--your pilgrimage, Jack?"
"No," responded Jack, gravely.
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