CHAPTER XXX 442
knowledge they had trodden before me . I devoured the books they lent me : then it was full satisfaction to discuss with them in the evening what I had perused during the day . Thought fitted thought ; opinion met opinion : we coincided , in short , perfectly .
If in our trio there was a superior and a leader , it was Diana . Physically , she far excelled me : she was handsome ; she was vigorous . In her animal spirits there was an affluence of life and certainty of flow , such as excited my wonder , while it baffled my comprehension . I could talk a while when the evening commenced , but the first gush of vivacity and fluency gone , I was fain to sit on a stool at Diana ' s feet , to rest my head on her knee , and listen alternately to her and Mary , while they sounded thoroughly the topic on which I had but touched . Diana offered to teach me German . I liked to learn of her : I saw the part of instructress pleased and suited her ; that of scholar pleased and suited me no less . Our natures dovetailed : mutual affection -- of the strongest kind -- was the result . They discovered I could draw : their pencils and colour-boxes were immediately at my service . My skill , greater in this one point than theirs , surprised and charmed them . Mary would sit and watch me by the hour together : then she would take lessons ; and a docile , intelligent , assiduous pupil she made . Thus occupied , and mutually entertained , days passed like hours , and weeks like days .
As to Mr . St John , the intimacy which had arisen so naturally and rapidly between me and his sisters did not extend to him . One reason of the distance yet observed between us was , that he was comparatively seldom at home : a large proportion of his time appeared devoted to visiting the sick and poor among the scattered population of his parish .
No weather seemed to hinder him in these pastoral excursions : rain or fair , he would , when his hours of morning study were over , take his hat , and , followed by his father ' s old pointer , Carlo , go out on his mission of love or duty -- I scarcely know in which light he regarded it . Sometimes , when the day was very unfavourable , his sisters would expostulate . He would then say , with a peculiar smile , more solemn than cheerful --