CHAPTER XIX 249
" I like to observe all the faces and all the figures ."
" But do you never single one from the rest -- or it may be , two ?"
" I do frequently ; when the gestures or looks of a pair seem telling a tale : it amuses me to watch them ."
" What tale do you like best to hear ?"
" Oh , I have not much choice ! They generally run on the same theme -- courtship ; and promise to end in the same catastrophe -- marriage ."
" And do you like that monotonous theme ?" " Positively , I don ' t care about it : it is nothing to me ."
" Nothing to you ? When a lady , young and full of life and health , charming with beauty and endowed with the gifts of rank and fortune , sits and smiles in the eyes of a gentleman you -- "
" I what ?" " You know -- and perhaps think well of ."
" I don ' t know the gentlemen here . I have scarcely interchanged a syllable with one of them ; and as to thinking well of them , I consider some respectable , and stately , and middle-aged , and others young , dashing , handsome , and lively : but certainly they are all at liberty to be the recipients of whose smiles they please , without my feeling disposed to consider the transaction of any moment to me ."
" You don ' t know the gentlemen here ? You have not exchanged a syllable with one of them ? Will you say that of the master of the house !"
" He is not at home ."