Phyllis Bottome

“ It is an isolating thing in a world of average intelligence to be stupid; but it is a far more isolated position—it is even a hostile one—to be cleverer than your own family. Families are tolerant of their fools; they may be proud of, but they always resent, an intellectual superior in their bosom. Not that the Amberleys were in the least proud of Geoffrey; they merely resented him. They might have been proud of him if he had done well the things that they cared to do, but the things Geoffrey did well were the things no Amberley cared to do at all. ”

“ Geoffrey regarded his father a little anxiously. Delighted people seldom look so solemnly at leather arm-chairs.
"I think you extremely fortunate," said Sir Thomas, gravely, "to have won the affection of so charming and sensible a person. One can only hope you will retain it. You have made a very wise choice, but one can hardly expect the Derings to feel the same. I shall, however, assist them to do so, as far as it lies in my power, by settling two hundred a year upon Emily when the marriage takes place. ”

“ There is all the difference in the world between a peculiarity that takes things off your shoulders and a peculiarity that is likely to put them on; still, even the less noxious kind of peculiarity is a peculiarity.
Geoffrey's earnings took him to Paris, and kept him there for two years with very little assistance from a belated allowance. Sir Thomas was n't stingy, but he declined to see any necessity for Geoffrey's going to Paris when there were plenty of subjects to draw in England. ”