“Is it not possible that praise of you could be so exaggerated as to make you feel ashamed?”
“I should say, perfectly impossible; that is, to a mind regulated as mine, over-elation could never happen. Tell me, therefore, what he said?”
“I can't remember one-half of it; he remarked how few men in the career—I conclude he meant diplomacy—could compare with you; that you had such just views about the state of Europe, such an accurate appreciation of publie men. I can't say how many opportunities you mustn't have had, and what valuable uses you have not put them to. In a word, I felt that I was about to travel with a great statesman and a consummate man of the world, and was-terrified accordingly.”
“And now that the delusion is dispelled, how do you feel?”
“But is it dispelled? Am I not shocked with my own temerity in daring to talk thus lightly with one so learned?”
“If so,” said I, “you conceal your embarrassment wonderfully.”
And then we both laughed; but I am not quite sure it was at the same joke.
“Do you know where you are going?” said I, taking out a travelling-map as a means of diverting our conversation into some higher channel.
“Not in the least”
“Nor care?”