That opened the
door for all varieties of grafters, and made the child such an easy
mark that Peter would have been ashamed to make a victim of her, had
it not been that she happened to stand in the path of his higher
purposes--and also that she happened to be young, only seventeen,
with tender grey eyes, and tempting, sweet lips, alone there in the
house all day.
Section 16
Peter's adventures in love had so far been pretty much of a piece
with the rest of his life experiences; there had been hopes, and
wonderful dreams, but very few realizations. Peter knew a lot about
such matters; in the orphan asylum there were few vicious practices
which he did not witness, few obscene imaginings with which he was
not made familiar. Also, Pericles Priam had been a man like the
traditional sailor, with a girl in every port; and generally in
these towns and villages there had been no place for Peter to go
save where Pericles went, so Peter had been the witness of many of
his master's amours and the recipient of his confidences. But none
of these girls and women had paid any attention to Peter. Peter was
only a "kid"; and when he grew up and was no longer a kid, but a
youth tormented with sharp desires, they still paid no attention to
him--why should they? Peter was nothing; he had no position, no
money, no charms; he was frail and undersized, his teeth were
crooked, and one shoulder higher than the other.
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