"No doubt they all walked here," observed the poet; "it was one of the customs of the time to take slow exercise daily in one of these dignified alleys. The whole society of Coppet was no doubt often here, Madame de Staël and her various guests, Schlegel, Constant, the Montmorency, Sismondi, Madame Récamier, and many others."
"Would that I too could have been of that company!" said Cousin Walpole, with warmth.
"Which one of the two ladies would you have accompanied down this walk, if choice had been forced upon you?" said Mrs. Winthrop.
"Which one?—Madame de Staël, of course," replied the little bachelor, chivalrously.
"And you, Mr. Percival?"
"With the one who had the intellect," replied the poet.
"We must be even more lacking in beauty than we suppose, Sylvia, since they all chose the plain one," said Katharine, laughing. "But you have not spoken yet, Mr. Ford: what would your choice have been?"
"Between the two, there would hardly have been one."
"Isn't that a little enigmatical?"
"John means that he admires them equally," explained the aunt.