We were elaborately polite, and we each made a
meritorious effort to appear at our ease. On her side, she found herself
confronted by a young man, the new master of the house, who looked more
like a foreigner than an Englishman--who, when he was congratulated (in
view of the approaching season) on the admirable preservation of his
partridges and pheasants, betrayed an utter want of interest in the
subject; and who showed no sense of shame in acknowledging that his
principal amusements were derived from reading books, and collecting
insects. How I must have disappointed Mrs. Roylake! and how considerately
she hid from me the effect that I had produced!
Turning next to my own impressions, I discovered in my newly-found
relative, a little light-eyed, light-haired, elegant woman; trim, and
bright, and smiling; dressed to perfection, clever to her fingers' ends,
skilled in making herself agreeable--and yet, in spite of these
undeniable fascinations, perfectly incomprehensible to me. After my
experience of foreign society, I was incapable of understanding the
extraordinary importance which my stepmother seemed to attach to rank and
riches, entirely for their own sakes. When she described my unknown
neighbors, from one end of the county to the other, she took it for
granted that I must be interested in them on account of their titles and
their fortunes. She held me up to my own face, as a kind of idol to
myself, without producing any better reason than might be found in my
inheritance of an income of sixteen thousand pounds.
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