Page:Arthur Machen - The Hill of Dreams.djvu/106

THE HILL OF DREAMS the village for weeks after; the whole place was poisoned with the fumes of horrid tobacco pipes.'

'Well, we see how that sort of thing ends,' said Mrs. Dixon, summing up judicially. 'We had intended to call, but I really think it would be impossible after what Mrs. Gervase has told us. The idea of Mr. Vaughan trying to sponge on poor Mr. Gervase in that shabby way! I think meanness of that kind is so hateful.'

It was the practical side of all this that astonished Lucian. He saw that in reality there was no high-flown quixotism in a woman's nature: the smooth arms, made he had thought for caressing, seemed muscular; the hands meant for the doing of works of pity in his system, appeared dexterous in the giving of 'stingers,' as Barnes might say, and the smiling lips could sneer with great ease. Nor was he more fortunate in his personal experiences. As has been told, Mrs. Dixon spoke of him in connection with 'judgments,' and the younger ladies did not exactly cultivate his acquaintance. Theoretically they 'adored' books and thought poetry 'too sweet,' but in practice they preferred talking about mares and fox-terriers and their neighbours. 96