Two Worlds and Their Ways Read Online Free Page A

grandson. You see how I can be those.”
    â€œYou are a family I do not understand. Do you understand them, Roderick?”
    â€œWell, we are used to each other. And probably no one fully understands anyone else.”
    â€œMy father spoke there,” said Oliver. “I do sometimes hear his voice. It is partial understanding that carries danger. It suggests more than the truth.”
    â€œWhich of your aunts do you like the better?” said Maria.
    â€œI should like to prefer Aunt Lesbia, because of her esteem for herself. Most of us despise ourselves because we have such good reason, and admire other people because they cannot be as bad as we are. To admire oneself is a great sign of quality. But I find that Aunt Juliet is more to me.”
    â€œDo you admire yourself?”
    â€œBe careful, Maria; I might dare to tell the truth.”
    â€œOn which side?” said Sir Roderick.
    â€œOn either side. There my father spoke again.”
    â€œI do not admire myself so much,” said Maria.
    â€œDo not dare too far,” said her stepson. “Beware of revealing what you do not admire. Other people might not admire it either.”
    â€œI do not see why they should.”
    â€œAnd neither would they. Be in no doubt about it.”
    â€œI am not in any doubt.”
    â€œYou are in more than you know. Or have any right to be. We think our little failings have their own charm. And they have not. And they are great failings.”
    â€œI wish I knew whether to trust Sefton to your aunt and uncle.”
    â€œYou cannot do that. You can put him into their charge.”
    â€œIt does not seem a fair thing to do.”
    â€œIt is not. The system is part of a great wrong.”
    â€œAre boys happier at home?”
    â€œWell, I would not say that.”
    â€œWere you happier here?”
    â€œWell, I had no mother. I was left to servants, and that is the best of all fates. I took everything from them and gave them nothing. It seems I have a habit of doing that.”
    â€œWere you happier after your mother died?”
    â€œI ceased to give anything, and that was a burden lifted. But I have never got over it. No one has taken her place.”
    â€œYou mean that I have not.”
    â€œThat is what I mean.”
    â€œYou would like her to be here instead of me and my children?”
    â€œWell, I remember how I did like it.”
    â€œAnd you think your father would like it too?”
    â€œI had not thought about him. My thoughts run on myself. And most people cannot relive the years. Only gifted people with empty lives can do so.”
    â€œAnd that is how you would describe yourself?”
    â€œWell, you often talk of my empty hours. And my gifts are fluency, perception, music, an exotic charm.”
    â€œYou mean that you think so?”
    â€œNo. That is what you mean.”
    â€œWell, should not they help to fill the hours?”
    â€œThey do fill them. They are only empty in a sense that does not count. Though I know that you count it. And now the little unspoken things are out between us. They might just as well not have been unspoken. And we shall have a better relationship, which is a pity, as we have had an easy one. I should hate things to go deeper between us.”
    â€œThey are only out on your side.”
    â€œMaria, you sail under false colours. You are as dangerous as anyone else. Well, let that be our safeguard. Let those hidden things lie between us and keep us apart. It would be so awkward to come closer.”
    â€œThe boy talks in his own way,” said Mr. Firebrace.
    â€œI never know what the two of you talk about upstairs,” said Maria.
    â€œIf you did, the talk would not be upstairs,” said Clemence, causing her parents to exchange a smile, or causing her mother to turn one on her father.
    â€œWe do not know either,” said Oliver. “If we did, we should not talk. We should tell each other of matters, which