Weaker than a Woman — page 180: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

WEAKER THAN A WOMAN. a ee dom spoken of anything but herself and his great love for her. Now, for the first time, she heard him converse with intellectual men, who all seemed to look up to him as their superior. She was astounded. The great statesman, Lord Rayden, talked much to him, and the earl asked his opinion. | “It does me good,” said Lord Rayden, “to hear such ideas as yours, they are so thoroughly fresh, clever, and original. We must have you on our side. You must not go over to the enemy.” Felix had a natural wit that made his conversation piquant and amusing. Lord Arlington delighted in it. - When any playful attack was made on himself he would look at him and say: “T shall leave you to answer that, Mr. Lonsdale.” The dinner was a complete success. It was a new thing to Lady Chevenix, intellectual conversation such as she was listening to. She looked once at her husband, and she saw him gazing with undisguised admiration at Felix. Sir Owen said little. He had ideas of his own; one was that talking at dinner-time was a bore rather than not; people sat down to eat, not to talk. He certainly did not contribute much to the general entertainment. He dined well, and more than once Violet felt something like dismay, as she saw how the wineglasses before him were replen- ished. She could not help contrasting the two men, nor was she the only one present who did so. Felix was so bright, so handsome, so animated, so gifted and intellec- tual; he was a leader of conversation even among older and wiser men than himself, for he had the gift of pictur- esque language. Sir Owen, coarse and heavy, his brain dulled with constant drinking, speaking little, but, when he did speak, saying something almost disagreeable, was doltish and inert, except when he was offensive. There could have been no greater contrast—and Lady Chevenix saw it. To herself she thought how Felix would be appre- ciated and understood in London, how eagerly he would be sought—who would care to remember that he was the son of a country lawyer? Such men make their own mark. Where her husband would not be tolerated, Felix would ~ be received with open arms. All these observations she made to herself, as she sat by Lord Arlington, her beautiful face wreathed with smiles. The last words she heard, as the ladies quitted the dining- room, were from Lord Rayden. — “The next time you run up to London, Mr. Lonsdale,” he ~ Eomicbooks (Ele)