The Bostonians, Vol. II | Page 2

voice forcing him to
listen till she spoke again. It was not long before he perceived that this
added lustre was simply success; she was young and tender still, but the

sound of a great applauding audience had been in her ears; it formed an
element in which she felt buoyant and floated. Still, however, her
glance was as pure as it was direct, and that fantastic fairness hung
about her which had made an impression on him of old, and which
reminded him of unworldly places--he didn't know
where--convent-cloisters or vales of Arcady. At that other time she had
been parti-coloured and bedizened, and she had always an air of
costume, only now her costume was richer and more chastened. It was
her line, her condition, part of her expression. If at Miss Birdseye's, and
afterwards in Charles Street, she might have been a rope-dancer, to-day
she made a "scene" of the mean little room in Monadnoc Place, such a
scene as a prima donna makes of daubed canvas and dusty boards. She
addressed Basil Ransom as if she had seen him the other week and his
merits were fresh to her, though she let him, while she sat smiling at
him, explain in his own rather ceremonious way why it was he had
presumed to call upon her on so slight an acquaintance--on an
invitation which she herself had had more than time to forget. His
explanation, as a finished and satisfactory thing, quite broke down;
there was no more impressive reason than that he had simply wished to
see her. He became aware that this motive loomed large, and that her
listening smile, innocent as it was, in the Arcadian manner, of mockery,
seemed to accuse him of not having the courage of his inclination. He
had alluded especially to their meeting at Miss Chancellor's; there it
was that she had told him she should be glad to see him in her home.
"Oh yes, I remember perfectly, and I remember quite as well seeing
you at Miss Birdseye's the night before. I made a speech--don't you
remember? That was delightful."
"It was delightful indeed," said Basil Ransom.
"I don't mean my speech; I mean the whole thing. It was then I made
Miss Chancellor's acquaintance. I don't know whether you know how
we work together. She has done so much for me."
"Do you still make speeches?" Ransom asked, conscious, as soon as he
had uttered it, that the question was below the mark.

"Still? Why, I should hope so; it's all I'm good for! It's my life--or it's
going to be. And it's Miss Chancellor's too. We are determined to do
something."
"And does she make speeches too?"
"Well, she makes mine--or the best part of them. She tells me what to
say--the real things, the strong things. It's Miss Chancellor as much as
me!" said the singular girl, with a generous complacency which was yet
half ludicrous.
"I should like to hear you again," Basil Ransom rejoined.
"Well, you must come some night. You will have plenty of chances.
We are going on from triumph to triumph."
Her brightness, her self-possession, her air of being a public character,
her mixture of the girlish and the comprehensive, startled and
confounded her visitor, who felt that if he had come to gratify his
curiosity he should be in danger of going away still more curious than
satiated. She added in her gay, friendly, trustful tone--the tone of facile
intercourse, the tone in which happy, flower-crowned maidens may
have talked to sunburnt young men in the golden age--"I am very
familiar with your name; Miss Chancellor has told me all about you."
"All about me?" Ransom raised his black eyebrows. "How could she do
that? She doesn't know anything about me!"
"Well, she told me you are a great enemy to our movement. Isn't that
true? I think you expressed some unfavourable idea that day I met you
at her house."
"If you regard me as an enemy, it's very kind of you to receive me."
"Oh, a great many gentlemen call," Verena said, calmly and brightly.
"Some call simply to inquire. Some call because they have heard of me,
or been present on some occasion when I have moved them. Every one
is so interested."

"And you have been in Europe," Ransom remarked, in a moment.
"Oh yes, we went over to see if they were in advance. We had a
magnificent time--we saw all the leaders."
"The leaders?" Ransom repeated.
"Of the emancipation of our sex. There are gentlemen there, as well as
ladies. Olive had splendid introductions in all countries, and we
conversed with all the earnest people. We heard much that was
suggestive. And as for Europe!"--and the young lady paused, smiling at
him and ending