Ill

THE CONFERENCE

37

w The first impression of Mr. Wilson at close quarterswas to impair some but not all of these illusions.His head and features were finely cut and exactlylike his photographs, and the muscles of his neckand the carriage of his head were distinguished.But, like Odysseus , the President looked wiser whenhe was seated; and his hands, though capable andfairly strong, were wanting in sensitiveness and finesse.The first glance at the President suggested not onlythat, whatever else he might be, his temperament wasnot primarily that of the student or the scholar, butthat he had not much even of that culture of theworld which marks M. Clemenceau and Mr. Balfouras exquisitely cultivated gentlemen of their class andgeneration. But more serious than this, he was notonly insensitive to his surroundings in the externalsense, he was not sensitive to his environment atall. What chance could such a man have againstMr. Lloyd George's unerring, almost medium-like,sensibility to every one immediately round him ?To see the British Prime Minister watching thecompany, with six or seven senses not available toordinary men, judging character, motive, and sub-conscious impulse, perceiving what each was think-ing and even what each was going to say next, andcompounding with telepathic instinct the argumentor appeal best suited to the vanity, weakness, orself-interest of his immediate auditor, was to realisethat the poor President would be playing blind