"You are fishing for a compliment, I presume."
"Perhaps. I wish you would pay me compliments—in earnest. I am vain. I like to be appreciated. You do not like me,—I should like to be liked by you."
"You are talking nonsense, Professor Cutter," said the young girl, raising her eyebrows a little. "If I did not like you, it would be uncivil of you to say you had found it out, unless I treated you rudely."
"It may be nonsense, Miss Carvel. I speak according to my lights."
"Then I should say that for a luminary of science your light is very limited," returned Hermione.
"In future I will hide my light under a bushel, since it displeases you."
"Something smaller than a bushel would serve the purpose. But it does not please me that you should be in the dark; I would rather you had more light."
"You have only to look at me," said the scientist, with a laugh.
"I thought you professed not to make silly compliments. My mother tells me that the true light should come from within," added Hermione, with a little scorn.
"Religious enthusiasts, who make those phrases, spend their lives in studying themselves," retorted Cutter. "They think they see light where they most wish to find it. I spend my time in studying other people."