Rose read steadily through all the books in the house and gained a
various knowledge which left her curiously untouched. She studied
music, and liked it better than anything else because it roused
emotions otherwise unobtainable, yet she did not care much for the
emotional kind. Perhaps her intensest feeling was the desire to feel
intensely, but being half ashamed of this desire she rarely dwelt on
it; she pursued her way, calm and aloof and proud. She was beautiful
and found pleasure in the contemplation of herself, and though she did
not discuss her appearance as her stepsisters discussed theirs, she
spent a good deal of time on it and much money on her plain but
perfect clothes. All three had more money than they needed, but Rose
was richer than the others, having inherited her mother's little
fortune as well as her share of what the General had left. She was, as
Caroline often told her with a hit at that gentleman's unnecessary
impartiality, a very desirable match. 'But they're afraid of you, my
dear; they were afraid of me, but I amused them, while you simply look
as if they were not there. Of course, that's attractive in its way,
and one must follow one's own line, but it takes a brave man to come
up to the scratch.'

'Caroline, what an expression!'

'Well, I want a brave man,' Rose said, 'if I want one at all.'

Caroline turned on Sophia. 'What's language for except to express
oneself? You're out of date, Sophia; you always were, and I've always
been ahead of my time. Now, Rose,'--these personalities were dear to
Caroline--'Rose belongs to no time at all. That frightens them. They
don't understand. You can't imagine a Radstowe young man making love