Lost Horizon

by James Hilton

CIGARS HAD BURNED LOW, and we were beginning to sample the disillusionment that usually afflicts old school friends who have met again as men and found themselves with less in common than they had believed they had.

I suppose one of the hardest things for a non-Catholic to realize is how easily a Catholic can combine official rigidity with non-official broadmindedness.

Americans, Conway reflected, had the knack of being able to say patronizing things without being offensive.

What most observers failed to perceive in him was something quite bafflingly simple—a love of quietness, contemplation, and being alone.

“I don’t think you properly understand the position, Mallinson. We’re in a part of the world that no one knows very much about, except that it’s difficult, and dangerous even for a fully equipped expedition. Considering that hundreds of miles of this sort of country probably surround us on all sides, the notion of walking back to Peshawar doesn’t strike me as very hopeful.”

and the air, clean as from another planet, was more precious with every intake. One had to breathe consciously and deliberately, which, though disconcerting at first, induced after a time an almost ecstatic tranquility of mind.

“I think,” said Conway, “if I were a missionary I’d choose this rather than quite a lot of other places.” “In that case,” snapped Miss Brinklow, “there would be no merit in it, obviously.” “But I wasn’t thinking of merit.” “More’s the pity, then. There’s no good in doing a thing because you like doing it. Look at these people here!” “They all seem very happy.” “Exactly,” she answered with a touch of fierceness.

And there’s another thing too—it don’t hurt when you chip me about it. Thick-skinned and tender-hearted, that’s my mixture.”

“It is significant,” he said after a pause, “that the English regard slackness as a vice. We, on the other hand, should vastly prefer it to tension. Is there not too much tension in the world at present, and might it not be better if more people were slackers?”