"Never mind. Say what you think, or what you feel." "Why should you wish me to talk commonplace?" "That is precisely what I don't wish you to talk. You know what is commonplace, and therefore you can avoid it. Never mind his school or his date. What did the man want to express here, and how far do you think he has succeeded? That's the main thing; I wish a few critics would understand it." Miriam obeyed him, and said what she had to say diffidently, but in clear terms. Mallard was silent when she ceased, and she looked up at him. He rewarded her with a smile, and one or two nods--as his manner was. "I have not made myself ridiculous?" "I think not." They had walked on a little, when Mallard said to her unexpectedly: "Please to bear in mind that I make no claim to infallibility. I am a painter of landscape; out of my own sphere, I become an amateur. You are not bound to accept my judgment." "Of course not," she replied simply. "It occurred to me that I had been rather dictatorial." "So you have, Mr. Mallard," she returned, looking at a picture. "I am sorry. It's the failing of men who have often to be combative, and who live much in solitude. I will try to use a less offensive tone." "I didn't mean that your tone was in the least offensive." "A more polite tone, then--as you taught me yesterday." "I had rather you spoke just as is natural to you." Mallard laughed. "Politeness is not natural to me, I admit. I am horribly uncomfortable whenever I have to pick my words out of regard to polite people. That is why I shun what is called society. What little I have seen of it has been more than enough for me." "I have seen still less of it; but I understand your dislike." "Before you left home, didn't you associate a great deal with people?" "People of a certain kind," she replied coldly. "It was not society as you mean it." "You will be glad to mix more freely with the world, when you are back in England?" "I can't tell. By whom is that Madonna?" Thus they went slowly on, until they came to the little hall where the fountain plays, and whence is the outlook over the Tiber. It was delightful to sit here in the shadows, made cooler and fresher by that plashing water, and to see the glorious sunlight gleam upon the river's tawny flow.