Page:The Princess Casamassima (London and New York, Macmillan & Co., 1886), Volume 3.djvu/111

 what I mean. How else does one know one has gone far enough? That poor, dear woman! She's an angel, but she isn't in the least in it,' she added, in a moment. She would give him no further satisfaction on the subject; when he pressed her she inquired whether he had brought the copy of Browning that he had promised the last time. If he had, he was to sit down and read it to her. In such a case as this Hyacinth had no disposition to insist; he was glad enough not to talk about the everlasting nightmare. He took Men and Women from his pocket, and read aloud for half an hour; but on his making some remark on one of the poems, at the end of this time he perceived the Princess had been paying no attention. When he charged her with this levity she only replied, looking at him musingly, 'How can one, after all, go too far? That's a word of cowards.'

'Do you mean her ladyship is a coward?'

'Yes, in not having the courage of her opinions, of her conclusions. The way the English can go half-way to a thing, and then stick in the middle!' the Princess exclaimed, impatiently.

'That's not your fault, certainly!' said Hyacinth. 'But it seems to me that Lady Aurora, for herself, goes pretty far.'

'We are all afraid of some things, and brave about others,' the Princess went on.

'The thing Lady Aurora is most afraid of is the Princess Casamassima,' Hyacinth remarked.

His companion looked at him, but she did not take this up. 'There is one particular in which she would be very brave. She would marry her friend—your friend—Mr. Muniment.'