But, 'I doubt it, I doubt it, I do.'"
"What nonsense!" returned her mother, somewhat testily. "Why shouldn't he
be? You are always amiable together, are you not?"
"Well," she said, knitting her brows and pursing her lips drolly, "that,
methinks, depends on the limits and requirements of amiability. If
disputation showeth a friendly spirit, then is my lord overfriendly; for it
oft hath seemed of late to pleasure his mood to wax disputations, though,
in sooth, lady fair, I have always maintained a wary and decorous
demeanor."
"I can imagine," laughed her mother, a little anxiously; "then you will
go?"
"Why not?"
If Arnold really cared for the outcome of such manoeuvres, Mrs. Levice's
exertions bore some fruit.
Chapter VIII
There are few communities, comparatively speaking, with more enthusiastic
theatre-lovers than are to be found in San Francisco. The play was one of
the few worldly pleasures that Mr. Levice thoroughly enjoyed. When a great
star was heralded, he was in a feverish delight until it had come and gone.
When Bernhardt appeared, the quiet little man fully earned the often
indiscriminately applied title of "crazy Frenchman." A Frenchman is never
so much one as when confronted in a foreign land with a great French
creation; every fibre in his body answers each charm with an appreciation
worked to fever-heat by patriotic love; at such times the play of his
emotions precludes any idea of reason to an onlooker.
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