He glanced curiously aside at her half-averted face. "At first sight I
had supposed you scarcely more than a mere girl, but now you speak like
a woman wearied of the world, utterly condemning all complimentary
phrases."
"Indeed, no; not if they be sincerely expressed as between man and man."
"How is it as between man and woman?"
"Men generally address women as you started to address me, as if there
existed no common ground of serious thought between them. They
condescend, they flatter, they indulge in fulsome compliment, they
whisper soft nonsense which they would be sincerely ashamed to utter in
the presence of their own sex, they act as if they were amusing babies,
rather than conversing with intelligent human beings. Their own notion
seems to be to shake the rattle-box, and awaken a laugh. I am not a
baby, nor am I seeking amusement."
He glanced curiously at her book. "And yet you condescend to read love
stories," he said, smiling. "I expected to discover a treatise on
philosophy."
"I read whatever I chance to get my hands on, here in Glencaid," she
retorted, "just as I converse with whoever comes along. I am hopeful
of some day discovering a rare gem hidden in the midst of the trash. I
am yet young."
"You are indeed young," he said, quietly, "and with some of life's
lessons still to learn. One is that frankness is not necessarily
flippancy, nor honesty harshness. Beyond doubt much of what you said
regarding ordinary social conversation is true, yet the man is no more
to be blamed than the woman. Both seek to be entertaining, and are to
be praised for the effort rather than censured. A stranger cannot
instinctively know the likes and dislikes of one he has just met; he
can feel his way only by commonplaces. However, if you will offer me a
topic worthy the occasion, in either philosophy, science, or
literature, I will endeavor to feed your mind."
She uplifted her innocent eyes demurely to his face. "You are so kind.
I am deeply interested just now In the Japanese conception of the
transmigration of souls."
"How extremely fortunate! It chances to be my favorite theme, but my
mental processes are peculiar, and you must permit me to work up toward
it somewhat gradually. For instance, as a question leading that way,
how, in the incarnation of this world, do you manage to exist in such a
hole of a place?--that is, provided you really reside here."