Chapter 31
If he was ruffled by some of her conditions there was thus comfort and consolation to be drawn from others, beside the essential fascination--so small the doubt of that now--of the young lady's own society. He spent the afternoon, they all spent the afternoon, and the occasion reminded him of pages in _Wilhelm Meister_. He himself could pass for Wilhelm, and if Mrs. Rooth had little resemblance to Mignon, Miriam was remarkably like Philina. The movable feast awaiting them--luncheon, tea, dinner?--was delayed two or three hours; but the interval was a source of gaiety, for they all smoked cigarettes in the garden and Miriam gave striking illustrations of the parts she was studying. Peter was in the state of a man whose toothache has suddenly stopped--he was exhilarated by the ces
- Writer
