Maurice

by E.M. Forster

and mistaken them for the empty creatures he wanted them to think he was. No, they too had insides. “But, O Lord, not such an inside as mine.” As soon as he thought about other people as real, Maurice became modest and conscious of sin: in all creation there could be no one as vile as himself: no wonder he pretended to be a piece of cardboard; if known as he was, he would be hounded out of the world.

But she only said that she saw a good deal more than some little boys who thought themselves little men.

still wrote what was true, and confided that he was unbearably lonely and should blow out his brains before the year ended.