Upon the one he was thinking of the vast
problems of a society of a hundred million people staggering on the
verge of anarchy, and upon the other he was perplexed by the
feverish inattention of Prothero to the tremendous things that were
going on all about them. It was only presently when the serenity of
his own private life began to be ruffled by disillusionment, that he
began to realize the intimate connexion of these two systems of
thought. Yet Prothero put it to him plainly enough.
"Inattentive," said Prothero, "of course I am inattentive. What is
really the matter with all this--this social mess people are in
here, is that nearly everybody is inattentive. These Big Things of
yours, nobody is thinking of them really. Everybody is thinking
about the Near Things that concern himself."
"The bombs they threw yesterday? The Cossacks and the whips?"
"Nudges. Gestures of inattention. If everybody was thinking of the
Res Publica would there be any need for bombs?"
He pursued his advantage. "It's all nonsense to suppose people
think of politics because they are in 'em.
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