John Oliver Hobbes

“ What sort of figure?"
"She is tall and statuesque," said Sir Richard. "I always feel that she ought to have been called Diana [2] . Can you imagine her now?"
The corners of her mouth just curved. "I think I can."
"The fact is—can't you guess?"
"Why should I trouble to make guesses when you are going to tell me everything?" She fixed her eyes upon his; he could not look away.
"It is hard—in so many words," he stammered. "You are so like a man! ... I never thought you were chicken-hearted [3] . ”

“ You see," he went on, "love comes to man through his senses—to woman through her imagination. I might even say, taking the subject on broad lines, that women love men for their virtue; while men, very often, love women for the absence of it."
"A woman would no doubt need a great deal of imagination to love a man for his virtue," said Carlotta, meekly.
But Vallence was lost in meditation. He had conceived a magazine article to be called "The Pleasing of a Lute," and beginning thus: The poet in his artificial passion expresses what man feels naturally and needs all his reason to repress.... ”

“ But a man's age depends on his history. His history had been dull, grey, and unromantic—an even saunter into success which only seemed to him a crueller name for failure. "Sacheverell promised to be brilliant," said his college tutor once, "but I am afraid he is only solid. He will be a rock for other men to sharpen their wits on." ”

“ Women are so unreasonable. I have told you that Emily cannot compare with you. What more can I say? Even now," he added, a little unsteadily, "I would let my family go to the devil if you would give up your extraordinary ideas and——"
"Richard," she said, gravely, "I will forgive what you were going to say."
"If you cared for me you would not think you had anything to forgive," he answered with a harsh laugh. "There is no crime in being Real. But there is so much mawkish [4] , false sentiment about women, that a man is driven to hypocrisy in spite of himself." ”

“ With them, what they call love is the only feeling—they have no others to offend."
Sir Richard looked at her, and wondered. "The truth is," he said, "men can't follow your way of loving. You see, they don't understand it. It's so—so——" he paused for the word—"well, it's so self-possessed."
"When are you going to be married?" she asked, presently.
He felt the awkwardness of the question: Emily had given no promise yet. ”

“ A younger son cannot be expected to believe in anything."
"And is no one expected to believe in a younger son?" It was seldom she was betrayed into bitterness—a fact which most people attributed to her want of feeling. ”

“ To guess a man's fate is comparatively easy: to perceive its necessity, its why and wherefore, is given only to the man himself, and then after much seeking and through a mist.
The Dean's sister, Mrs. Molle, was the widow of an Irish major, who had left her his lame hunter, [6] four very healthy little boys, and a dying command that she should do her duty by the children. Sacheverell awoke one morning to find the pitiful group on his doorstep in St. Thomas's-in-the-Lanes, where he held a small living.
"I knew you would be glad to have us," said Eleanor. ”

“ But it merely illustrates the great law of infidelity in human nature. A man must be faithless to something—either to a woman, or his God, or his firmest belief. Kilcoursie certainly appeared very devoted to the other lady—whoever she was. I have heard from several people that they were always together at one time. No one knows her name. They tell me that she looks like Vittoria Colonna." [16]
"Dear me," said Eleanor, thinking that she must hunt out Vittoria in the Classical Dictionary.
Sacheverell strolled to the window. "It has stopped raining," he said. "I think I will go out." ”

“ But all this happened when Sacheverell was a young man, as the world counts youth, when his dream was to write Masses on Mount Athos. [10] Now he was a Dean, and visited country-houses. "I have made him what he is," Mrs. Molle told her friends; "no wife could have done more for him!"
Men heap together the mistakes of their lives and create a monster which they call Destiny. Some take a mournful joy in contemplating the ugliness of the idol. These are called Stoics. ”

“ The Stoics taught that emotions resulted from an error in reason and that the moral and intellectual person would not be swayed by emotion.↑ Solomon's Temple was the first temple of the Hebrews constructed under King Solomon and destroyed after the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem in 587 BCE↑ Epicureanism is a system of ancient Greek philosophy based on the teachings of Epicurus and is the main opponent of Stoicism. ”

“ Such rooms are now referred to as sitting rooms or living rooms.↑ A boudoir is a woman's private sitting room, dressing room, or bedroom.↑ A popular laxative powder created by John Gregory.↑ Mount Athos is a mountain and peninsula in Greece. In the Christian tradition, it is associated with the Virgin Mary.↑ Stoicism is a school of Hellenic philosophy founded in Athens. ”