Explore "The Heart Line" by Gelett Burgess on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
By artful questions, and apparently innocent remarks to lure his / confidence, by a little guess-work, more observation, and a profound / knowledge of the frailties of human nature, Madam Spoll had plied Oliver / Payson to good advantage.
She got a fact here, a suggestion there, and, one at a time, she / arranged these items in order, and with them wove a psychological web / strong enough to work upon. It was partly hypothetical, partly proved, / but, slender and shadowy as it was, upon it was portrayed a faint image / of her victim -- a pattern sufficient for her use. Every new piece of / information was deftly used to strengthen the fabric, until at last it / was serviceable as a working theory of his life and could be used to / astonish and interest him. Of this whole process he was, of course, / unaware, so cleverly disguised was her method, so skilful was her tact. / She never frightened her quarry, never permitted him to suspect her. / Her errors she frankly acknowledged and set down to the ignorance of her / guides. She had, indeed, many holes by which she could escape -- set / formulae for covering her petty failures.