"How sublime! Perhaps there is hope for humanity after all! I admire all of you. You are stronger than I. You beat me.” Verge turned back to Béla. “I used to be like you – ambitious, energetic, idealistic. Head full of noble artistic ambitions. If only I were a man of stronger convictions, of firmer discipline, but I am a weak man, a man crushed by temptation, moved only by simple pleasures and little indulgences. I do not have the fortitude to resist their traps. I do not have the endurance to last the race. I chose the easy way. I accept my shortcomings and have learned to live with them, but I am always touched when I meet people of a higher caliber who are able to proceed where I failed. Of course, I meet fewer and fewer higher caliber people as my life drags on.”
A tinge of sadness touched Anthony Vergil’s bearded face and it seemed as if part of him had drifted away to some faraway place. The trance lasted barely a moment. The sadness faded as quickly as it had appeared and he smiled, raised his snifter again, and said, “I tip my hat to both of you, gentlemen.”
-excerpted from The City of Earthly Desire
A tinge of sadness touched Anthony Vergil’s bearded face and it seemed as if part of him had drifted away to some faraway place. The trance lasted barely a moment. The sadness faded as quickly as it had appeared and he smiled, raised his snifter again, and said, “I tip my hat to both of you, gentlemen.”
-excerpted from The City of Earthly Desire
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