ed to smile at the
mock severity of her judgment. He, no more than Montjoie, would believe
that she meant only what she said. This accomplished man of letters and
parts agreed, if in nothing else, in this, with the young fool of
quality, that such extreme candour and plain speaking was some subtle
Italian way of drawing an admirer on. He put it into finer words than
Montjoie could command, and said to himself that it was that mysterious
adorable feminine instinct which attracted by seeming to repel. And even
on a more simple explanation it was comprehensible enough. A girl who
attached so much importance to the accomplishments of society would
naturally be annoyed by the failure in these of one to whom she looked
up. A regret even moved his mind that he had not given more attention to
them in earlier days. It was perhaps foolish to neglect our
acquirements, which after all would not take very much trouble, and need
only be brought forward, as Dogberry says, when there was no need for
such vanities. He determined with a little blush at himself to note
closely how other men did, and so be able another time to acquit himself
to her satisfaction. And even her severity was sweet; it implied that he
was not to her what other men were, that even in the more trifling
accessories of knowledge she would have him to excel. If he had been
quite indifferent to her, why should she have taken this trouble? And
then that "To-morrow; with pleasure." What did it mean? That though she
would not give him her attention to-night, being devoted to her dancing
(which is what girls are brought up to in this strangely imperfect
system), she would do so on the earliest possible occasion. He went
about the room like a man in a dream, following everywhere with his eyes
that vision of beauty, and looking forward to the next step in his
life-drama with an intoxication of hope which he did not attempt to
subdue. He was indeed pleased to experience a _grande passion_. It was a
thing which completed the mental equipment of a man. Love--not humdrum
household affection, such as is all that is looked for when the
exigencies of life make a wife expedient, and with full calculation of
all he requires the man sets out to look for her and marry her. This was
very different, an all-mastering passion, disdainful of every obstacle.
To-morrow! He felt an internal conviction that, though Montjoie might
dance and answer for the amusement of an evening, that bright and