But how she came into existence puzzles us not a little.

Was she summoned out of nothingness by the creative fancy of Lavengro, or did he really first set eyes upon her in the dingle whither she came with the Flaming Tinman, whose look Lavengro did not like at all?
Reality and romance, though Borrow made them wear double harness, are not meant to be driven together.

It is hard to weep aright over Isopel Berners.

The reader is tortured by a sense of duty towards her.

This distraction prevents our giving ourselves away to Borrow.