"That is not a very civil question, asked in that way."
"You mean that I seem to doubt your abnegation?"
"You seem to insinuate that I had nothing to renounce. I gave up--I
gave up--" and she looked about her, considering a little--"I gave up
society."
"I am glad you remember what it was," said Bernard. "If I have seemed
uncivil, let me make it up. When a woman speaks of giving up society,
what she means is giving up admiration. You can never have given up
that--you can never have escaped from it. You must have found it even at
Sorrento."
"It may have been there, but I never found it. It was very
respectful--it never expressed itself."
"That is the deepest kind," said Bernard.
"I prefer the shallower varieties," the young girl answered.
"Well," said Bernard, "you must remember that although shallow
admiration expresses itself, all the admiration that expresses itself is
not shallow."
Miss Vivian hesitated a moment.
"Some of it is impertinent," she said, looking straight at him, rather
gravely.
Bernard hesitated about as long.
"When it is impertinent it is shallow. That comes to the same thing."
The young girl frowned a little.
"I am not sure that I understand--I am rather stupid.
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