.

" "But we, my dear Marlow, have the inestimable advantage of understanding what is happening to others," I struck in.

"Or at least some of us seem to.

Is that too a provision of nature?
And what is it for?
Is it that we may amuse ourselves gossiping about each other's affairs?
You for instance seem--" "I don't know what I seem," Marlow silenced me, "and surely life must be amused somehow.

It would be still a very respectable provision if it were only for that end.