our young lady's left, a gentleman thick-necked,
large and literal, who looked straight before him
and as if he were not to be diverted by vain words
from that pursuit, clearly counted as an offset to
, the possession of Lord Mark. As Milly made out
these things with a shade of exhilaration at the
way she already fell in she saw how she was justi
fied of her plea for people and her love of life. It
wasn't then, as the prospect seemed to show, so dif
ficult to get into the current, or to stand, at any
rate, on the bank. It was easy to get near if they
were near; and yet the elements were different
enough from any of her old elements, and positively
rich and strange.

She asked herself if her right-hand neighbour
would understand what she meant by such a de
scription of them, should she throw it off; but an
other of the things to which, precisely, her sense
was awakened was that no, decidedly, he wouldn t.
It was nevertheless by this time open to her that
his line would be to be clever; and indeed, evi
dently, no little of the interest was going to be in
the fresh reference and fresh effect both of people's
cleverness and of their simplicity. She thrilled, she
consciously flushed, and turned pale with the certi
tude it had never been so present that she
should find herself completely involved: the very
air of the place, the pitch of the occasion, had for
her so positive a taste and so deep an undertone.
The smallest things, the faces, the hands, the jewels

[[164]]

p163 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p164w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p165

v?