Overcome with a sudden shyness, I hastened to assure her that the
statue was "La Danaide."
"Rodin often introduces a trivial voluptuousness into art; and his
sculpture may be sometimes called _l'article de Paris_. It is
occasionally soiled by the sentiment, of which Gounod is the great
exponent, a base soul who poured a sort of bath-water melody down the
back of every woman he met, Margaret or Madeline, it was all the
same."
"Clearly this is not a day to walk about a picture-gallery with you.
Come, let us sit down, and we'll talk about lighter things, about
lovers. You won't mind telling me; you know you can trust me. One of
these days you will meet a man who will absorb you utterly, and all
these passing passions will wax to one passion that will know no
change."
"Do you think so? I wonder."
"Do you doubt it?"
"I don't think any one man could absorb me; no one man could fill my
life."
"Not even Donald?"
"Donald is wonderful. Do you remember that morning, a few days after
we arrived?"
"Your wedding night?"
"Yes, my wedding night."
We are interested in any one who is himself or herself, and this girl
was certainly herself and nothing but herself. Travelling about as she
did with her quiet, respectable mother, who never suspected anything,
she seemed to indicate a type--type is hardly the word, for she was an
exception.
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