“I have since had reason to believe the cause to lie much deeper in the nature of man, and to turn on some nobler hinge than the principle of hatred.”

The expression “I have since had reason to believe the cause to lie much deeper in the nature of man, and to turn on some nobler hinge than the principle of hatred” describes a changed understanding: what once might have been explained by hatred is now understood as arising from a deeper source in human nature. Its central significance lies in that redirection, while the sentence leaves the particular cause unnamed.

Meaning and Form

The phrase is framed as a conclusion reached over time. “I have since had reason to believe” signals reconsideration rather than immediate certainty, and “much deeper” contrasts an underlying cause with hatred as a more familiar, surface explanation. The metaphor of a “nobler hinge” gives the unnamed cause a moral elevation, but does not specify what it is. The sentence therefore offers a revised principle without closing off the question of motive.

Narrative Context

The statement appears in the Tuesday section after John Rebus has seen enough for the moment. The surrounding narration then follows him as he struggles to sleep, dozes in his favourite chair with a book open on his lap, and is roused by a nine o’clock call. This placement sets the sentence’s broad reflection beside an ordinary, interrupted night; the text does not identify the cause it describes or explicitly explain the connection between the reflection and the events around it.