They have
assigned to her certain characteristics without which cruel and
cold-blooded murder would be inconceivable; but they have afforded us no
insight into the moral conditions and, mental processes which make it,
not only conceivable, but almost an everyday occurrence. For the average
human mind, I suppose, the psychology of crime, and especially of
fiendish, hypocritical murder-by-inches, has an undeniable fascination.
To most of us it seems an abhorrent miracle; and it would interest us
greatly to have it brought more or less within the range of our
comprehension, and co-ordinated with other mental phenomena which we can
and do understand. But of such illumination we find nothing in _Bella
Donna_. It leaves the working of a poisoner's mind as dark to us as
ever. So far as that goes, we might just as well have read the report of
a murder-trial, wherein the facts are stated with, perhaps, some
superficial speculation as to motive, but no attempt is made to
penetrate to underlying soul-states.
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