“Perhaps so, but I am inclined to think it was a correct one. I mixed with people whose habits and mode of life are, and will ever remain, totally unknown to you—it was probably before you were born, too, and may, as I said before, be quite different now—at all events it is too late to talk more about it to-night; I must look after my workmen, and then it will be time to go to bed.” He lit his candle and walked towards an office which communicated with the Iron Works.
“What a different person Mr. Eisenmann is from what I expected!” observed Hildegarde.
“He is different from what I expected, too,” answered Hamilton.
“I am beginning to have quite a respect for him,” she continued, “in short, I think him a remarkably clever man.”
“You are always in extremes, Hildegarde—first you unnecessarily underrated, and now you overrate him!”
“I suspect,” said Hildegarde, laughing, “you are annoyed at his not thinking the English workmen happier than the Bavarian; his remarks, however, appeared to me very intelligent; he is quite willing to allow England her superiority in manufactures, though not in the felicity of her lower orders. For a person in his station of life, you must allow——”
“Yes,” said Hamilton, “for a person in his station in life, I do think him unusually well-informed and rational, but what I find most to admire about him is, that he has not stood still between his thirtieth and fortieth year, as most men who are not actually moving in the world do, and which I verily believe is the cause of those never-ending praises of the good old times.”
“He is the first person,” said Hildegarde, “that I have heard actually give the present times the preference to those of his youth!”
“He has followed the changes of the world,” said Hamilton, “and that is a proof of intellect less often given than people imagine. Everybody’s youth must be, I should think, more agreeable than their old age. The world is full of pleasures for youth, which by degrees, slowly but surely, even under the most fortunate circumstances, cease for the aged. Happy those who, like Mr. Eisenmann, can understand and appreciate the improvement in the world—still more happy those who, when old, can find enjoyment in witnessing pleasures in which they can no longer participate.”
“But there are some fortunate persons who never appear to grow old,” said Hildegarde.