El.  I don’t think you at all objectionable, Mr Gresham, as a member of society; on the contrary, I think you charming; though I do feel that, magnetically, we are wide as the poles asunder!  Oh, believe me, we have no grounds of common sympathy, either in matters of philosophical, political, or religious thought—­and above all, in art!  You seem to lack that enthusiasm for humanity which could alone constitute an affinity between us.  I was surprised, because I had hoped to find in you an intelligent companion; and mortified at the discovery that you could not rise to higher ground than that of an ordinary admirer,—­men in these days seem to think that women have no other raison d’etre except to be made love to.

Ad.  I do not think that is a new idea, Lady Elaine; but is it absolutely necessary, in order that you should return the deep affection I feel for you, that we should agree politically, philosophically, theologically, and aesthetically?  In old days women did not trouble themselves on these matters, but trusted to their hearts rather than to their heads to guide their affections.

El.  And so I do now.  I feel instinctively that we are not kindred spirits; that the mysterious chord of sympathy which vibrates in the heart of a girl with the first tone of the voice of the man she is destined to love, does not exist between us.  Oh, indeed, indeed, Mr Gresham, although I adore Frederic Harrison as a thinker, as much as I dislike Mr Mallock—­though I read every word he writes as a duty—­I am not destitute of romance.  I am a profound believer in the doctrine of affinity.  Who that accepts, as I do, the marvellous teaching of Comte, and remembers that the highest ideas which it contains were inspired by a woman, could fail to be?  But I shall know the man towards whom I am destined to occupy the relation that Comte’s Countess did to him, at a glance.  No words will need to pass between us to assure us that we are one in sentiment.  It will be as impossible for him to be indifferent to elevating the taste of the masses in matters of domestic detail, or be otherwise wanting in a whole-hearted devotion to the service of humanity, or to scoff at the theory of evolution, as it would be for him to accept the errors and superstitions of an obsolete theology, or the antiquated dogmas of the Conservatives about landed property.

Ad.  And if I fulfilled all these conditions, so far as a thorough philosophical and political sympathy was concerned, would that avail me nothing to produce this hidden affinity?

El.  Absolutely nothing.  In the first place, you could not pretend to believe and feel what you did not believe and feel; and in the second, if you could, I should instantly sense the absence of that internal attraction towards each other which would be irresistible in both.  You were right, Mr Gresham, when you said the heart and not the head should be the guide; and I trust it absolutely—­so give up a hope which must be vain.  Believe me, I feel deeply pained at having to speak so decidedly, but it is better that you should be under no delusion.  Still, do not let me lose you as a friend whom I shall always esteem.  You will soon get over it, and will have no difficulty in finding a wife who will suit you far better than I should ever have done.