“His manner of asking personal questions was of that kind not uncommonly to be found which is completely divorced from any interest in the answer. He was always prepared to embark on a length cross-examination of almost anyone he might meet, at the termination of which–apart from such details as might chance to concern himself–he had absorbed no more about the person interrogated than he knew at the outset of the conversation. At the same time this process seemed somehow to gratify his own egotism.”
Anthony Powell, At Lady Molly’s
Terry Teachout on the arts in New York City
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