the Joppites. He lived so near that it was the most natural thing in the
world for him to stop for a moment's chat, as every one else did, either
inside or outside of the window as he went by; and as he was always sure
of meeting others, call when he would, it certainly never could have been
asserted of him that he went there only to see Phebe. Indeed, he often
scarcely spoke with her at all when he so dropped in, and yet out of
these frequent and informal meetings an intimacy had sprung up between
them such as Phebe at least had never known before. She submitted herself
to him docilely, reading his books patiently even when they bored her
unutterably, as not seldom happened, and endeavoring to form her opinion
straitly upon his on all intellectual questions, recognizing her own
fallibility with a humility that at once touched and charmed him. Real
humility is rare enough the world over, but nowhere is it less
conspicuously apparent than among the flourishing virtues of Joppa; and
it was not long before this fact was discovered by Denham Halloway, who,
with all his gayety and light-heartedness, was a keen and discriminating
observer of character. He was one of those interesting people whom all
other people interest; one of those who derive their peculiar charm more
from what they find in you than from what they show you of themselves,
though one might be ashamed to confess the truth so baldly. These are the
people who, without any especial gift of either mind or person, wheedle
your secrets out of you before you know it, possessing all your trust and
your liking before they have given any real evidence of deserving your
confidence, and yet, somehow or other, though rarely either great or
talented, or even heroically good, never for one moment abusing it. Such
characters are not at all unusual, yet are generally accounted so; one of
their chief qualities, according to their friends, being that they are so
unlike everybody else. But Phebe certainly had never met any one at all
like Mr. Halloway, and she was soon of the settled conviction that she
should never meet any one quite like him again. He was true to his