"
"I should agree with you but for one or two remarks that fell from
him. They showed an insight into the real nature of scientific
knowledge, and an instinctive sense of the truths underlying words,
which I have never met with except in men of considerable culture
and experience. I suspect that his manner is deliberately assumed in
protest against the selfish vanity which is the common source of
social polish. It is partly natural, no doubt. He seems too
impatient to choose his words heedfully. Do you ever go to the
theatre?"
"No," said Alice, taken aback by this apparent irrelevance. "My
father disapproved of it. But I was there once. I saw the 'Lady of
Lyons.'"
"There is a famous actress, Adelaide Gisborne--"
"It was she whom I saw as the Lady of Lyons. She did it
beautifully."
"Did Mr. Byron remind you of her?"
Alice stared incredulously at Lydia. "I do not think there can be
two people in the world less like one another," she said.
"Nor do I," said Lydia, meditatively. "But I think their
dissimilarity owes its emphasis to some lurking likeness. Otherwise
how could he have reminded me of her?" Lydia, as she spoke, sat down
with a troubled expression, as if trying to unravel her thoughts.
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