cious man by rubbing his hands
and chafing his temples.

CHAPTER XVI

The Wanderer glanced at Unorna's face and saw the expression of
relentless hatred which had settled upon her features. He neither
understood it nor attempted to account for it. So far as he knew, Israel
Kafka was mad, a man to be pitied, to be cared for, to be controlled
perhaps, but assuredly not to be maltreated. Though the memories of the
last half hour were confused and distorted, the Wanderer began to be
aware that the young Hebrew had been made to suffer almost beyond the
bounds of human endurance. So far as it was possible to judge, Israel
Kafka's fault consisted in loving a woman who did not return his love,
and his worst misdeed had been his sudden intrusion upon an interview
in which the Wanderer could recall nothing which might not have been
repeated to the whole world with impunity.

During the last month he had lived a life of bodily and mental
indolence, in which all his keenest perceptions and strongest instincts
had been lulled into a semi-dormant state. Unknown to himself, the
mainspring of all thought and action had been taken out of his existence
together with the very memory of it. For years he had lived and moved
and wandered over the earth in obedience to one dominant idea. By
a magic of which he knew nothing that idea had been annihilated,
temporarily, if not for ever, and the immediate consequence had been the
cessation of all interest and of all desire for individual action.
The suspension of all anxiety, restlessness and mental suffering had
benefited the physical man though it had reduced the intelligence to a
state bordering upon total apathy.

But organisations, mental or physical, of great natural strength, are
never reduced to weakness by a period of inactivity. It is those minds
and bodies which have been artificially developed by a long course of
training to a degree of power they were never intended to possess, which
lose that force almost immediately in idleness. The really very strong
man has no need of constant gymnastic exercise; he will be stronger than
other men whatever he does. The strong character needs not be constantly
struggling against terrible odds in the most difficult situations in
order to be sure of its own solidity, nor must the deep intellect be
ever plodding through the mazes of intricate theories and problems that
it may feel itself superior to minds of less compass. There is much
natura