Madame Blumenthal has it--this grace that soothes and satisfies;
and it seems the more perfect that it keeps order and harmony in a
character really passionately ardent and active. With her eager nature
and her innumerable accomplishments nothing would be easier than that she
should seem restless and aggressive. You will know her, and I leave you
to judge whether she does seem so! She has every gift, and culture has
done everything for each. What goes on in her mind I of course can't
say; what reaches the observer--the admirer--is simply a sort of fragrant
emanation of intelligence and sympathy."
"Madame Blumenthal," I said, smiling, "might be the loveliest woman in
the world, and you the object of her choicest favours, and yet what I
should most envy you would be, not your peerless friend, but your
beautiful imagination."
"That's a polite way of calling me a fool," said Pickering. "You are a
sceptic, a cynic, a satirist! I hope I shall be a long time coming to
that."
"You will make the journey fast if you travel by express trains. But
pray tell me, have you ventured to intimate to Madame Blumenthal your
high opinion of her?"
"I don't know what I may have said. She listens even better than she
talks, and I think it possible I may have made her listen to a great deal
of nonsense.
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