"No, he wearies one with explanations and history."
"Some of Tennyson's dainty idylls will suit your fastidious taste."
"I couldn't abide his affected, stilted language to-day."
"Shakespeare, then; you regard him as perfect."
"No, he makes me think, and I do not wish to."
"Well, here are newspapers, the latest magazine, and some new novels."
"Modern rubbish—a mushroom growth. They will soon kindle kitchen fires instead of thought."
"Then I must make an expedition to the library. What shall I bring? There is Mosheim's 'Ecclesiastical Ancient History'; that has a solid, venerable sound. Or, if you prefer poetry, I will get Gray's 'Elegy.' That cannot be a literary mushroom, for he was twenty years writing it. But perhaps it is Tupper you would like. That would suit your mood exactly, Tupper's 'Proverbial Philosophy.'"
"You are growing satirical, Miss Walton. Why don't you assert plainly that I am as full of whims as a—"
"Woman, would you like to say?"