"It is not at all interesting to talk of me; I have already told you so--Why do you persist? I would much rather hear of foreign countries--Italy, for instance. I have never been there." There was not the least subjective deference in her manner to him. It was as if an equal were talking to one of her own brain calibre and that equal a woman, who had a right to be humoured. Women--especially girls--were not wont so to treat him, but were always more or less impressed by his great position, or his aloofness, or his satirical but courteous wit. He had sometimes an expression of contemptuous, amiable tolerance, which was eighteenth century and disconcerting. It made all but the most simple or most highly cultivated among them slightly uneasy--Was he laughing at them? They were never quite sure. He found himself piqued now, and in no mood to be balked, so he contradicted Katherine. "You may not find yourself interesting to talk about; it chances that I do. I wish to know what it is that shields you so effectively." "A clear idea of what I want, I expect, and a strong enough will not to be much buffeted about by any wind of opinion." "What a _rara avis_! And you look so young!" "I am twenty-three; that is fully grown." "And what is it you want?" "To be free to soar--to see the world--to feel its throb--to demonstrate some of my ideas." "On what subjects?" "The meanings of things--and why they are--and the common sense aspect of them. Then one could help humanity. Lady Garribardine is my ideal of what a woman should be. There is nothing small about her; she is as big as a great man and far more sagacious." "There I am with you!" and his voice became eager. "Her Ladyship has always been the perfection of things feminine, in my opinion. You know her well?" "Extremely well. She is not afraid of her views and principles. She is really an aristocrat. She believes in herself, so everyone believes in her, too!" "Most of us are shaky about ourselves." "You are not--I shall turn the tables now and say I want to talk about you! What does it feel like to be a Duke?--A real Duke, not a _parvenu_ or one who makes a laughing stock of his order." He smiled; she was a most engaging and audacious young person, because she did not speak with childish artlessness, but with deliberation. "It feels a great responsibility sometimes, and a thing of very little consequence at others. It enforces perhaps a standard of behaviour which it is difficult always to follow. If the circumstances of my life had been different when I was younger, I should have endeavoured not to let our order slip into impotency; now the whole modern political outlook disgusts me so that I seldom speak in the House."