though, he hasn't a fortune to help him forward; he ought to be in
Parliament."

"So he thinks, perhaps," she answered, remembering something that he had
said to her one day on his first visit to the country, and understanding
more clearly than ever the use that she might have been in the world.

"Very possibly he does. He appreciates himself, that is certain.
It's half the battle to know one's own power; sometimes I think it's
three-quarters of it. Because, you see, when a man knows his strong
points he's always meeting others at his best, and as for his
worst,--why, I imagine Edmonson would rather keep those dark." Elizabeth
looked up inquiringly, but she said nothing, and Sir Temple added, "In
fact, most of us would; we don't expect that charity from men which we
find from Heaven." She did not answer, and he talked on, for theorizing
was a favorite amusement, but his wife always snubbed him when he
attempted it, and most men either showed weariness or had theories of
their own which they were in such haste to air that his had only half a
chance. Now, here was a young lady ready to listen, and, since it was
not because she was unable to talk well herself, her listening was a
compliment that he felt.

At first Elizabeth did listen. But her companion fairly launched, went
on excellently by himself, and involuntarily her eyes turned upon
Edmonson. He was very handsome; she wondered if it was his conversation
with Lady Dacre that gave him so much animation. Since circumstances had
roused Elizabeth from the dreamy state in which she used to indulge, she
had lost something of her belief in his intellectual superiority, for
the things that had once seemed so difficult as to be almost impossible
to her had suddenly become simple enough; now that, they being required