I wish he could come here.'
'You seem very much engrossed with him,' she answered, with a
jealous little toss. 'He must be an interesting man to take up so
much of your attention.'
'Interesting!' said Stephen, his face glowing with his fervour;
'noble, you ought to say.'
'Oh yes, yes; I forgot,' she said half satirically. 'The noblest
man in England, as you told us last night.'
'He is a fine fellow, laugh as you will, Miss Elfie.'
'I know he is your hero. But what does he do? anything?'
'He writes.'
'What does he write? I have never heard of his name.'
'Because his personality, and that of several others like him, is
absorbed into a huge WE, namely, the impalpable entity called the
PRESENT--a social and literary Review.'
'Is he only a reviewer?'
'ONLY, Elfie! Why, I can tell you it is a fine thing to be on the
staff of the PRESENT. Finer than being a novelist considerably.'
'That's a hit at me, and my poor COURT OF KELLYON CASTLE.'
'No, Elfride,' he whispered; 'I didn't mean that. I mean that he
is really a literary man of some eminence, and not altogether a
reviewer. He writes things of a higher class than reviews, though
he reviews a book occasionally. His ordinary productions are
social and ethical essays--all that the PRESENT contains which is
not literary reviewing.'
'I admit he must be talented if he writes for the PRESENT. We
have it sent to us irregularly.
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