Osmond it was the keynote, and everything was in harmony with it.
She was certainly far from understanding him completely; his meaning
was not at all times obvious. It was hard to see what he meant for
instance by speaking of his provincial side- which was exactly the
side she would have taken him most to lack. Was it a harmless paradox,
intended to puzzle her? or was it the last refinement of high culture?
She trusted she should learn in time; it would be very interesting
to learn. If it was provincial to have that harmony, what then was the
finish of the capital? And she could put this question in spite of
so feeling her host a sly personage; since such shyness as his- the
shyness of ticklish nerves and fine perceptions- was perfectly
consistent with the best breeding. Indeed it was almost a proof of
standards and touchstones other than the vulgar: he must be so sure
the vulgar would be first on the ground. He wasn't a man of easy
assurance, who chatted and gossiped with the fluency of a
superficial nature; he was critical of himself as well as of others,
and, exacting a good deal of others, to think them agreeable, probably
took a rather ironical view of what he himself offered: a proof into
the bargain that he was not grossly conceited.
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