“The Small Boy Within”

“Long periods of solitude had made Pearl instinctive, sympathetic to the deeper silent energies of others. She had an innate feel for people and could perceive the secrets buried inside them. She saw beyond and behind the image Keats so convincingly played out before the world: that of the charmer, the cutup, the sexy, handsome male whom the boys like as much as the girls. Whenever she looked intently at her boyfriend, she saw that pitiable figure which most mortified him: the lonely little boy. She saw his vulnerability and his sensitivity to the actions and words of others. Her intuition touched his deeply wounded emotional tissues, which had never healed. Keats bore all this but never acknowledged the burden. Pearl knew that he did and loved him all the more for his having been hurt.”