Page 290 (1/2)

"And what does it mean, Char for yourself"

"You have called me, on various occasions, a 'creature,' a

'pedant'--very frequently a 'pedant,' and now, it seeoist,' and all because--"

"Because you think toofirst thought out just what you are going to say;

you never do anything without having laboriously mapped it all

out beforehand, that you e Peter Vibart's

tranquillity by any i and thinking--and that is even worse than stirring, and

stirring at your tea, as you are doing now" I took the spoon

hastily from my cup, and laid it as far out of reach as possible

"If ever you should write the book you once spoke of, it would be

just the very sort of book that I should--hate"

"Why, Charmian?"

"Because it would be a book of artfully turned phrases; a book in

which all the characters, especially women, would think and speak

and act by rote and rule--as according to Mr Peter Vibart; it

would be a scholarly book, of elaborate finish and care of

detail, with no irregularities of style or anything else to break

the monotonous harmony of the whole--indeed, sir, it would be a

most unreadable book!"