The Point of View | Page 9

increased until one day I
arrived to find neither Carter nor Miss Fitch present, but van
Manderpootz, who should have been delivering a lecture on
indeterminism, very much in evidence.
"Uh--hello," I said weakly.
"Umph!" he responded, glaring at me. "So Carter was right, I see.
Dixon, the abysmal stupidity of the human race continually astounds

me with new evidence of its astronomical depths, but I believe this
escapade of yours plumbs the uttermost regions of imbecility."
"M-my escapade?"
"Do you think you can escape the piercing eye of van Manderpootz? As
soon as Carter told me you had been here in my absence, my mind
leaped nimbly to the truth. But Carter's information was not even
necessary, for half an eye was enough to detect the change in your
attitude on these last few evening visits. So you've been trying to adopt
Carter's viewpoint, eh? No doubt with the idea of ultimately depriving
him of the charming Miss Fitch!"
"W-why--"
"Listen to me, Dixon. We will disregard the ethics of the thing and look
at it from a purely rational viewpoint, if a rational viewpoint is possible
to anybody but van Manderpootz. Don't you realize that in order to
attain Carter's attitude toward Fitch, you would have to adopt his entire
viewpoint? Not," he added tersely, "that I think his point of view is
greatly inferior to yours, but I happen to prefer the viewpoint of a
donkey to that of a mouse. Your particular brand of stupidity is more
agreeable to me than Carter's timid, weak, and subservient nature, and
some day you will thank me for this. Was his impression of Fitch worth
the sacrifice of your own personality?"
"I--I don't know."
"Well, whether it was or not, van Manderpootz has decided the matter
in the wisest way. For it's too late now, Dixon. I have given them both a
month's leave and sent them away--on a honeymoon. They left this
morning."

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