She could prattle deliciously, at times pointedly, relying on her intuition to tell her more than we get from books, and on her sweet impudence for a richer original strain.

She began to appreciate now a reputation for profound acquirements.

Learned professors of jurisprudence and history were as enthusiastic for Alvan in their way as Count Kollin.

She heard things related of Alvan by the underbreath.

That circle below her own, the literary and artistic, idolized him; his talk, his classic breakfasts and suppers, his undisguised ambition, his indomitable energy, his dauntlessness and sway over her sex, were subjects of eulogy all round her; and she heard of an enamoured baroness.