That, I think, is what Boon really at the bottom of his heart felt and
believed about literature.
And yet in some way he could also not believe it; he could recognize
something about it that made him fill the margin of the manuscript of
this address with grotesque figures of an imaginary audience going
out. They were, I know, as necessary to his whole conception as his
swinging reference to the stars; both were as much part of his
profound belief as the gargoyle on the spire and the high altar are
necessary parts of a Gothic cathedral. And among other figures I am
amused rather than hurt to find near the end this of myself--
[Illustration: _Too high-pitched even for Reginald._]