"Why, yes," I said, "a barrier against cant, and flummery, and
coldness, and pride, and against--why, against your own vanity too."
"That's really very clever--penetrating," she said; "and I really
desired to know, not because I did not know already, but to know I
knew all. You are a perspicacious observer, Mr. Brocken; and to be
that is to be alive in a world of the moribund. But then too how high
one must soar at times; for one must ever condescend in order to
observe faithfully. At any rate, to observe all one must range at an
altitude above all."
"And so," I said, "you have taken your praise from me--"
"But you are a man, and I a woman: we look with differing eyes, each
sex to the other, and perceive by contrast. Else--why, how else could
you forgive my presumption? He sees me as an eagle sees the creeping
tortoise. I see him as the moon the sun, never weary of gazing. I
borrow his radiance to observe him by. But I weary you with my
garrulous tongue.... Have you no plan at all in your journey? 'Tis not
the dangers, but to me the endless restlessness of such a
venture--that 'Oh, where shall wisdom be found?'.
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