think me so very objectionable?

_El_. I don't think you at all objectionable, Mr Gresham, as a member of
society; on the contrary, I think you charming; though I do feel that,
magnetically, we are wide as the poles asunder! Oh, believe me, we have
no grounds of common sympathy, either in matters of philosophical,
political, or religious thought--and above all, in art! You seem to lack
that enthusiasm for humanity which could alone constitute an affinity
between us. I was surprised, because I had hoped to find in you an
intelligent companion; and mortified at the discovery that you could not
rise to higher ground than that of an ordinary admirer,--men in these
days seem to think that women have no other _raison d'etre_ except to be
made love to.

_Ad_. I do not think that is a new idea, Lady Elaine; but is it
absolutely necessary, in order that you should return the deep affection
I feel for you, that we should agree politically, philosophically,
theologically, and aesthetically? In old days women did not trouble
themselves on these matters, but trusted to their hearts rather than to
their heads to guide their affections.

_El_. And so I do now. I feel instinctively that we are not kindred
spirits; that the mysterious chord of sympathy which vibrates in the
heart of a girl with the first tone of the voice of the man she is
destined to love, does not exist between us. Oh, indeed, indeed, Mr
Gresham, although I adore Frederic Harrison as a thinker, as much as I
dislike Mr Mallock--though I read every word he writes as a duty--I am
not destitute of romance. I am a profound believer in the doctrine of
affinity. Who that accepts, as I do, the marvellous teaching of Comte,
and remembers that the highest ideas which it contains were inspired by a