But you see how
right I am in my taste for such places as this. I have to come here to
hear such ingenious remarks."
"You should add that my coming, as well, has something to do with it."
"Everything!" said Miss Vivian.
"Everything? Does no one else make ingenious remarks? Does n't my friend
Wright?"
"Mr. Wright says excellent things, but I should not exactly call them
ingenious remarks."
"It is not what Wright says; it 's what he does. That 's the charm!"
said Bernard.
His companion was silent for a moment. "That 's not usually a charm;
good conduct is not thought pleasing."
"It surely is not thought the reverse!" Bernard exclaimed.
"It does n't rank--in the opinion of most people--among the things that
make men agreeable."
"It depends upon what you call agreeable."
"Exactly so," said Miss Vivian. "It all depends on that."
"But the agreeable," Bernard went on--"it is n't after all, fortunately,
such a subtle idea! The world certainly is agreed to think that virtue
is a beautiful thing."
Miss Vivian dropped her eyes a moment, and then, looking up,
"Is it a charm?" she asked.
"For me there is no charm without it," Bernard declared.
"I am afraid that for me there is," said the young girl.
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