The man of reason, on the other hand, runs with the single purpose in his mind of reaching the winning-post. He studiously avoids taking his eyes off the goal, which he has carefully located in advance, and takes pains to note the moment when he is nearing it, so as to run no risks of making his spurt too soon.
It is a matter of frequent observation that timidity often voluntarily assumes the rôle of effrontery, from very despair of successfully accomplishing the task it is ambitious to perform.
Illustrious examples of this contention are not lacking. Rousseau, who was a coward of the greatest hardihood, says in his _Confessions_:
"My foolish and unreasoning fear, that I was quite unable to overcome, of perpetrating some breach of good manners led me to assume the attitude of caring nothing for the niceties of life."
"I was made a cynic by shyness. I posed as a despiser of the politeness I did not know how to practise."
This is a much more frequent cause than one might think of the exhibition of an effrontery which is apparently deliberate and intentional.
The timid man, feeling himself awkward and clownish when performing the usual acts of courtesy, assumes the attitude of caring nothing for them and of avoiding them deliberately, while all the while he is tortured by the inability to perform them without seeming ridiculous.
But the onlooker is not deceived. The outward appearance of cynicism often conceals an inward sensitiveness of soul that is quite obvious, and the actor makes so poor a hand at identifying himself with the character he would assume that it is clearly evident he is only playing a part.
The conflict of diametrically opposing forces shows itself plainly in his attitude which vacillates between the stiffest formality and the easiest assurance.
The awkwardness that is the bugbear of the timid shows itself even beneath their work of cynicism, and the very effort accuses them, no less than their flighty and unreasoning conversation and their gestures, now exaggerated and now represt, all of which make up a whole that entirely fails to give an impression of harmony.
And what possible harmony can there be between a soul and a body that are completely out of accord with each other?