Mrs. Vyner affected not to understand the allusion.
"You would not look the villain," she said.
"Perhaps not," he replied, laughing; "but I could act it."
"By the way," interposed Julius, "surely that's a very false and un-Shakespearian notion current, respecting Iago's appearance: people associate moral with physical deformity, though as Shakespeare himself says—
There is no art
To find the mind's construction in the face.
The critics, I observe, in speaking of an actor, as Iago, are careful to say, 'he looked the villain.' Now, if he looked the villain, I venture to say he did not look Iago."
"Mr. St. John is right," said Cecil. "Had Iago 'worn his heart upon his sleeve,' no one could have been duped by him. Whereas everybody places implicit confidence in him. He is 'honest Iago'—a 'fellow of exceeding honesty;' and he is this, not only to the gull Roderigo, and the royal Othello, but equally so to the gentle Desdemona, and his companion in arms, the 'arithmetician' Cassio."
"So you see," said Marmaduke, turning to Mrs. Vyner, "in spite of your handsome compliment, I might have the physique de l'emploi. Then Cecil would be a famous Cassio,
Framed to make women false."
Mrs. Vyner asked herself, "Is he showing me his cards? Does he mean to play Iago here, and to select Cecil as his tool? No; he can't be such a blockhead; but what does he mean then?"