Hence it came when he called, that
by and by she would offer him tea, and when he went, would walk
with him into the garden, and at length even accompany him as far
as the lodge on his way home.
Charles Jermyn was a tall, well-made man, with a clever and refined
face, which, if not much feeling, expressed great intelligence. By
the ladies of the neighbourhood he was much admired, by some of
them pronounced very manly and good-looking, by others declared to
be BEAUTIFUL. Certain of them said he was much too handsome for a
doctor. He had a jolly air with him, which was yet far from
unrefined, and a hearty way of shaking hands which gave an
impression of honesty; and indeed I think honesty would have been
comparatively easy to him, had he set himself to cultivate it; but
he had never given himself trouble about anything except "getting
on." You might rely on his word if he gave it solemnly, but not
otherwise. Absolute truth he would have felt a hindrance in the
exercise of his profession, neither out of it did he make his yea
yea, and his nay nay. His oath was better than his word, and that
is a human shame.
Women, even more than men, I presume, see in any one who interests
them, not so much what is there, as a reflection of what they
construct from the hints that have pleased them. Some of them it
takes a miserable married lifetime to undeceive; for some, not even
that will serve; they continue to see, if not an angel, yet a very
pardonable mortal, therefore altogether loveable man, in the
husband in whom everybody else sees only a vile rascal.
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