"That's the great thing," Isabel solemnly pondered;
"that's the supreme good fortune: to be in a better position for
appreciating people than they are for appreciating you." And she added
that such, when one considered it, was simply the essence of the
aristocratic situation. In this light, if in none other, one should
aim at the aristocratic situation.
I may not count over all the links in the chain which led Isabel
to think of Madame Merle's situation as aristocratic- a view of it
never expressed in any reference made to it by that lady herself.
She had known great things and great people, but she had never
played a great part. She was one of the small ones of the earth; she
had not been born to honours; she knew the world too well to nourish
fatuous illusions on the article of her own place in it. She had
encountered many of the fortunate few and was perfectly aware of those
points at which their fortune differed from hers. But if by her
informed measure she was no figure for a high scene, she had yet to
Isabel's imagination a sort of greatness. To be so cultivated and
civilized, so wise and so easy, and still make so light of it- that
was really to be a great lady, especially when one so carried and
presented one's self.
Pages:
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332