Quite
a virtuous glow seemed to mingle with his ardent passion; though the
fact simply was (as it often is in such cases) that, for a personal
gratification, he was prepared to barter his future prospects. He did
not doubt but that what he contemplated would be for the benefit of this
young girl; he must seem like an angel to her (for love does not always
touch us with the sense of unworthiness); as, indeed, by comparison with
this man Coe, he was. His mother would be a good deal "put out," it was
true, but then she was too fond of him to be angry with him for long,
far less to break with him. He was his own master, for some time to
come, at all events, for he had two hundred pounds in his pocket.
What nonsense do the greatest philosophers sometimes discourse, when
their topic is Self-interest! It is likely enough that self-interest
actuates _them_, and in a supreme degree. When folks are by nature wise
and prudent--or if their tastes are studious, and their vices few--or
when, above all, the brain is seasoned, and the blood moves sluggishly
in the veins, then men do act for their own advantage, and keep their
eyes fixed on the main chance. But with most of us, especially when
young, self-interest, properly so called, is often but a feather's
weight in the balance of Motive.
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