I wonder how it would feel to be awake soul and body at once!"

"Antony, you ought not to talk so recklessly. Some people might imagine
you meant what you said. You know very well that the thousand years
of 'stagnation,' as you call it, of the Hallams, is a most respectable
thing."

"Very respectable indeed! That is all women think about--born
conservatives every one of them--'dyed in the wool,' as a Bradford
man would say."

"Why do you quote what Bradford men say? I cannot imagine what makes
you go among a crowd of weavers, when you might be at Eltham Castle
with gentlemen."

"I will tell you why. At Eltham we yawn and stagnate together. The
weavers prick and pinch me in a thousand places. They make me dream
of living."

"Drink your tea, Antony and don't be foolish."

He shrugged his shoulders and laughed. Upon the whole, he rather liked
the look of astonishment in his sister's gray eyes, and the air of
puzzled disapproval in her manner. He regarded ignorance on a great
many matters as the natural and admirable condition of womanhood.

"It is very good tea, Elizabeth, and I like this American news. I shall
not go to the Tyrol now. Two new specimens of humanity to study are
better than glaciers."