"And how much can she be in love?"

"Very much."

"Do you mean with her body?"

"Yes, I do; and with the spirit that lives in it. I don't believe there's
any life but this. A church is more fantastic to me than the room in
which Punch belabours Judy. But I say that there is spirit in lust, in
hunger, in everything. When I want a drink my spirit wants it. Viola
Holme's spirit--a flame that will be blown out at death--takes part in
her love for that great brute Holme. And yet she's one of the most
pronounced egoists in London."

"Do you care to tell us any reason you may have for saying so?" said Sir
Donald.

As he spoke, his voice, brought into sharp contrast with the changeful
and animated voice of Carey, sounded almost preposterously thin and worn
out.

"She is always conscious of herself in every situation, in every relation
of life. While she loves even she thinks to herself, 'How beautifully I
am loving!' And she never forgets for a single moment that she is a
fascinating woman. If she were being murdered she would be saying
silently, while the knife went in, 'What an attractive creature, what an
unreplaceable personage they are putting an end to!'"

"Rupert, you are really too absurd!" exclaimed Pierce, laughing