or "defend zealously." No, this the exactness
and simplicity of true art rejected. Then came the simple, perfect
phrasing--"my reputation as a pianiste, of which I am somewhat jealous."
Unquestionably, as with Keats's word "forever," the word "jealous" was
perfectly familiar. It was not any one exceptional word which was
necessary, but a weaving of simple words--if I may be permitted the
expression. Here, in order to get the effect desired this master-mind
refrained from using a vocabulary. Words came readily enough; but the
tongue was in command of silence because pretentious words failed the
end. This perfection of expression is not a matter of vocabulary alone.
It is more than vocabulary; it is a grappling after the really subtle
and intellectual elements of the art of expression and persuasion.

Of what use all the delicately tinted tapestry threads in the world,
spread out before a tapestry-worker, if he does not possess the ability
to weave them into faultless designs, employing his colors sparingly
here, and lavishly there?

"One's tongue and pen should be in absolute command, whether for silence
or attack," says Stevenson again; and, more than on any quality of
force, business success depends upon that same nicety in the use of
words which selects the tactful expression, the modest and simple
phrase, in the drawing-room; the sort of nicety which is unobtrusive
exactness and delicacy; an artistry which in no way labels itself
skilful. But underneath all, the woof of the process is social
skill--that skill which is the ability to go back to unadorned first
principles with the dexterity of one who has acquired the power to do
the simple thing perfectly by having mastered the entire gamut of the
complex.

FOOTNOTE:

[Footnote B: Even Stevenson acknowledged secrecy in his earlier
climbings.]

CHAPTER VIII

CONCLUSION

_Conversation Is Reciprocal--Good Conversationalists Cannot Talk to
the Best Advantage without Confederates--As in Whist, It Is the
Combination Which Effects What a Single Whist-playing Genius Cannot
Accomplish--Good Conversation Does not Mark a Distinction among
Subjects; It Denotes a Difference in Talkability--The Different
Degrees of Talkability--Imperturbable Glibness Impedes Good
Conversation--Ease with Which One May Improve One's Conversational
Powers._

CHAPTER VIII

CONCLUSION

Good conversation, then, is like a well-played gam