Come," he added, "I have
an unpleasant task before me, to unmask you to yourself. I don't like
it, but I must do it. Don't make it harder for me."
"Very good," I said, rather angrily too. "But allow me to say this
first. This is a place of muddle. One is worked too hard, and shown too
many things, till one is hopelessly confused. But I had rather have your
criticism first, and then I will make mine."
"Very well!" said Amroth facing me, looking at me fixedly with his blue
eyes, and his nostrils a little distended. "The mischief lies in your
temperament. You are precocious, and you are volatile. You have had
special opportunities, and in a way you have used them well, but your
head has been somewhat turned by your successes. You came to that place
yonder, with Cynthia, with a sense of superiority. You thought yourself
too good for it, and instead of just trying to see into the minds and
hearts of the people you met, you despised them; instead of learning,
you tried to teach. You took a feeble interest in Cynthia, made a pet of
her; then, when I took you away, you forgot all about her. Even the
great things I was allowed to show you did not make you humble.
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