Was she
girlish enough, then, to find pleasure in speaking French before
him? A charming trait!
The train started, and Mr. Jacks began to talk. It was not the first
time that they had merrily skirmished on political and other
grounds; they amused each other, and, as it seemed, in a perfectly
harmless way; the English way of mirth between man and maid, candid,
inallusive, without self-consciousness. Arnold made the most of his
thirty years, spoke with a tone something paternal. He was wholly
sure of himself, knew so well his own mind, his scheme of existence,
that Irene's beauty and her charm were nothing more to him than an
aesthetic perception. That she should feel an interest in him, a
little awe of him, was to be hoped and enjoyed: he had not the least
thought of engaging deeper emotion--would, indeed, have held
himself reprobate had such purpose entered his head. Nor is it
natural to an Englishman of this type to imagine that girls may fall
in love with him. Love has such a restricted place in their lives,
is so consistently kept out of sight in their familiar converse.
They do not entirely believe in it; it ill accords with their
practical philosophy. Marriage--that is another thing. The
approaches to wedlock are a subject of honourable convention, not to
be confused with the trivialities of romance.
"I'm going down to Liverpool," he said, presently, "to meet Trafford
Romaine.
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