"I should like to hear Miss Lapidoth and have lessons from her, since you admire her so much—that is, of course, when we go to town. I mean lessons in rejoicing at her excellence and my own deficiency," said Gwendolen, turning on him a sweet open smile.
"I shall be really glad for you to see and hear her," said Deronda, returning the smile in kind.
"Is she as perfect in everything else as in her music?"
"I can't vouch for that exactly. I have not seen enough of her. But I have seen nothing in her that I could wish to be different. She has had an unhappy life. Her troubles began in early childhood, and she has grown up among very painful surroundings. But I think you will say that no advantages could have given her more grace and truer refinement."
"I wonder what sort of troubles hers were?"
"I have not any very precise knowledge. But I know that she was on the brink of drowning herself in despair."
"And what hindered her?" said Gwendolen, quickly, looking at Deronda.
"Some ray or other came—which made her feel that she ought to live—that it was good to live," he answered, quietly. "She is full of piety
