Page:Teleny, or The Reverse of the Medal, t. I.djvu/59

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51

"At last my mother spoke of him herself, commending first his playing and then his beauty.

"'What, do you find him good-looking?' I asked abruptly.

"'I should think so,' replied she, arching her eyebrows in an astonished way, 'is there anybody who does not? Every woman finds him an Adonis; but then you men differ so much from us in your admiration for your own sex, that you sometimes find insipid those whom we are taken up with. Anyhow, he is sure to succeed as an artist, as all the ladies will be falling in love with him.'

"I tried not to wince upon hearing these last words, but do what I could, it was impossible to keep my features quite motionless.

"My mother seeing me frown, added, smilingly:

"'What, Camille, are you going to become as vain as some acknowledged belle, who cannot hear anybody made much of without feeling that any praise given to another woman is so much subtracted from what is due to her?'

"'All women are free to fall in love with him