one's fingers; and above all it had the merit that so many things gave
it and that nothing could take it away. He had noted in a moment how
straight Francie Dosson gave it; and now, seeing her a second time, he
felt her promote it in a degree which made acquaintance with her one of
those "important" facts of which he had spoken to Charles Waterlow. It
was in the case of such an accident as this that he felt the value of
his Parisian education. It made him revel in his modern sense.

It was therefore not directly the prospect of the circus that induced
him to accept Mr. Dosson's invitation; nor was it even the charm exerted
by the girl's appearing, in the few words she uttered, to appeal to him
for herself. It was his feeling that on the edge of the glittering ring
her type would attach him to her, to her only, and that if he knew it
was rare she herself didn't. He liked to be intensely conscious, but
liked others not to be. It seemed to him at this moment, after he had
told Mr. Dosson he should be delighted to spend the evening with them,
that he was indeed trying hard to measure how it would feel to recover
the national tie; he had jumped on the ship, he was pitching away to the
west. He had led his sister, Mme. de Brecourt, to expect that he would
dine with her--she was having a little party; so that if she could see
the people to whom, without a scruple, with a quick sense of refreshment
and freedom, he now sacrificed her! He knew who was coming to his
sister's in the Place Beauvau: Mme. d'Outreville and M. de Grospre, old
M. Courageau, Mme. de Drives, Lord and Lady Trantum, Mile de Saintonge;
but he was fascinated by the idea of the contrast between what he
preferred and what he gave up. His life had long been wanting--painfully
wanting--in the element of contrast, and here was a chance to bring it
in. He saw it come in powerfully with Mr. Flack, after Miss Dosson had
proposed they should walk off without their initiator. Her father didn't
favour this suggestion; he said "We want a double good dinner to-day and