CONFIDENCE
"I don't think you know," she murmured, looking away. Then, "Set it down to modesty," she added.
"That, of course, is what I have done. To what else could one possibly attribute an indifference to compliments?"
"There is something else. One might be proud."
"There you are again!" Bernard exclaimed. "You won't even let me praise your modesty."
"I would rather you should rebuke my pride."
"That is so humble a speech that it leaves no room for rebuke."
For a moment Miss Vivian said nothing.
"Men are singularly base," she declared presently, with a little smile. "They don't care in the least to say things that might help a person. They only care to say things that may seem effective and agreeable."
"I see: you think that to say agreeable things is a great misdemeanour."
"It comes from their vanity," Miss Vivian went on, as if she had not heard him. "They wish to appear agreeable and get credit for cleverness and tendresse, no matter how silly it would be for another person to believe them."
Bernard was a good deal amused, and a little nettled.
"Women, then," he said, "have rather a fondness for producing a bad impression—they like to appear disagreeable?"
His companion bent her eyes upon her fan for a moment as she opened and closed it.
"They are capable of resigning themselves to it—for a purpose."
Longueville was moved to extreme merriment.
"For what purpose?"
"I don't know that I mean for a purpose," said Miss Vivian, "but for a necessity."
49
