"Yes, but strong, searching, unyielding in
mind." She looked at his big head, a disproportionate part of which was
occupied by the forehead, and at the direct, severe eyes.
"I give you up in despair," he said. He meant it lightly, but she took
it seriously, and believed that her value as a human being was lessened
because she did not happen to admire the style of Gibbon. The others
were talking now in a group about the native villages which Mrs.
Flushing ought to visit.
"I despair too," she said impetuously. "How are you going to judge
people merely by their minds?"
"You agree with my spinster Aunt, I expect," said St. John in his jaunty
manner, which was always irritating because it made the person he
talked to appear unduly clumsy and in earnest. "'Be good, sweet maid'--I
thought Mr. Kingsley and my Aunt were now obsolete."
"One can be very nice without having read a book," she asserted. Very
silly and simple her words sounded, and laid her open to derision.
"Did I ever deny it?" Hirst enquired, raising his eyebrows.
Most unexpectedly Mrs. Thornbury here intervened, either because it
was her mission to keep things smooth or because she had long wished to
speak to Mr. Hirst, feeling as she did that young men were her sons.
"I have lived all my life with people like your Aunt, Mr. Hirst," she
said, leaning forward in her chair.
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