Griffith could make nothing of this sort of lesson.  An awkward silence followed each question and answer.

“In one word,” I said, “are you a nobleman or not?”

“You know that in Spain even beggars are noble.”

This reticence provoked me.  Since the last lesson I had given play to my imagination in a little practical joke.  I had drawn an ideal portrait of the man whom I should wish for my lover in a letter which I designed giving to him to translate.  So far, I had only put Spanish into French, not French into Spanish; I pointed this out to him, and begged Griffith to bring me the last letter I had received from a friend of mine.

“I shall find out,” I thought, from the effect my sketch has on him, “what sort of blood runs in his veins.”

I took the paper from Griffith’s hands, saying: 

“Let me see if I have copied it rightly.”

For it was all in my writing.  I handed him the paper, or, if you will, the snare, and I watched him while he read as follows: 

“He who is to win my heart, my dear, must be harsh and unbending with men, but gentle with women.  His eagle eye must have power to quell with a single glance the least approach to ridicule.  He will have a pitying smile for those who would jeer at sacred things, above all, at that poetry of the heart, without which life would be but a dreary commonplace.  I have the greatest scorn for those who would rob us of the living fountain of religious beliefs, so rich in solace.  His faith, therefore, should have the simplicity of a child, though united to the firm conviction of an intelligent man, who has examined the foundations of his creed.  His fresh and original way of looking at things must be entirely free from affectation or desire to show off.  His words will be few and fit, and his mind so richly stored, that he cannot possibly become a bore to himself any more than to others.

“All his thoughts must have a high and chivalrous character, without alloy of self-seeking; while his actions should be marked by a total absence of interested or sordid motives.  Any weak points he may have will arise from the very elevation of his views above those of the common herd, for in every respect I would have him superior to his age.  Ever mindful of the delicate attentions due to the weak, he will be gentle to all women, but not prone lightly to fall in love with any; for love will seem to him too serious to turn into a game.

“Thus it might happen that he would spend his life in ignorance of true love, while all the time possessing those qualities most fitted to inspire it.  But if ever he find the ideal woman who has haunted his waking dreams, if he meet with a nature capable of understanding his own, one who could fill his soul and pour sunlight over his life, could shine as a star through the mists of this chill and gloomy world, lend fresh charm to existence, and draw music from the hitherto silent chords of his being—­needless to say, he would recognize and welcome his good fortune.