The Call of the Blood

"But beauty much oftener, oh, much! Every woman, I feel sure, could more

easily be jealous of physical beauty in another woman than of mental

gifts. There's something so personal in beauty."

"And is genius not equally personal?"

"I suppose it is, but I doubt if it seems so."

"I think you leave out of account the advance of civilization, which is

greatly changing men and women in our day. The tragedies of the mind are

increasing."

"And the tragedies of the heart--are they diminishing in consequence? Oh,

Emile!" And she laughed.

"Hermione--your food! You are not eating anything!" said Delarey, gently,

pointing to her plate. "And it's all getting cold."

"Thank you, Maurice."

She began to eat at once with an air of happy submission, which made

Artois understand a good deal about her feeling for Delarey.

"The heart will always rule the head, I dare say, in this world where the

majority will always be thoughtless," said Artois. "But the greatest

jealousy, the jealousy which is most difficult to resist and to govern,

is that in which both heart and brain are concerned. That is, indeed, a

full-fledged monster."

Artois generally spoke with a good deal of authority, often without

meaning to do so. He thought so clearly, knew so exactly what he was

thinking and what he meant, that he felt very safe in conversation, and

from this sense of safety sprang his air of masterfulness. It was an air

that was always impressive, but to-night it specially struck Hermione.

Now she laid down her knife and fork once more, to Delarey's half-amused

despair, and exclaimed: "I shall never forget the way you said that. Even if it were nonsense one

would have to believe it for the moment, and of course it's dreadfully

true. Intellect and heart suffering in combination must be far more

terrible than the one suffering without the other. No, Maurice, I've

really finished. I don't want any more. Let's have our coffee."

"The Turkish coffee," said Artois, with a smile. "Do you like Turkish

coffee, Monsieur Delarey?"

"Yes, monsieur. Hermione has taught me to."

"Ah!"

"At first it seemed to me too full of grounds," he explained.

"Perhaps a taste for it must be an acquired one among Europeans. Do we

have it here?"

"No, no," said Hermione, "Caminiti has taken my advice, and now there's a

charming smoke-room behind this. Come along."