Sir William Broadley told me
just the same thing. Don't you hate the kind of attitudes people go into
over Wagner--like this--" She cast her eyes to the ceiling, clasped her
hands, and assumed a look of intensity. "It really doesn't mean that
they appreciate him; in fact, I always think it's the other way round.
The people who really care about an art are always the least affected.
D'you know Henry Philips, the painter?" she asked.
"I have seen him," said Helen.
"To look at, one might think he was a successful stockbroker, and not
one of the greatest painters of the age. That's what I like."
"There are a great many successful stockbrokers, if you like looking at
them," said Helen.
Rachel wished vehemently that her aunt would not be so perverse.
"When you see a musician with long hair, don't you know instinctively
that he's bad?" Clarissa asked, turning to Rachel. "Watts and
Joachim--they looked just like you and me."
"And how much nicer they'd have looked with curls!" said Helen. "The
question is, are you going to aim at beauty or are you not?"
"Cleanliness!" said Clarissa, "I do want a man to look clean!"
"By cleanliness you really mean well-cut clothes," said Helen.
"There's something one knows a gentleman by," said Clarissa, "but one
can't say what it is."
"Take my husband now, does he look like a gentleman?"
The question seemed to Clarissa in extraordinarily bad taste.
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