“Oh, yes.”
“You seem to know everybody.”
“If I have spoken to a person once, I never forget him.”
“That seems to me very strange.”
“It is simple enough. The secret of it is, that, as far as I can help it, I never have any merely business relations with any one. I try always not to forget that there is a deeper relation between us. I commonly succeed worst in a drawing-room; yet even there, for the time we are together, I try to recognise the present humanity, however much distorted or concealed. The consequence is, I never forget anybody; and I generally find that others remember me—at least those with whom I have had any real relations, springing from my need or from theirs. The man who mends a broken chair for you, or a rent in your coat, renders you a human service; and, in virtue of that, comes nearer to your inner self, than nine-tenths of the ladies and gentlemen whom you meet only in what is called society, are likely to do.”
“But do you not find it awkward sometimes?”
“Not in the least. I am never ashamed of knowing any one; and as I never assume a familiarity that does not exist, I never find it assumed towards me.”
Hugh found the advantage of Falconer’s sociology when he mentioned to Miss Talbot that he had been his guest that night.
“You should have sent us word, Mr. Sutherland,” was all Miss Talbot’s reply.
“I could not do so before you must have been all in bed. I was sorry, but I could hardly help it.”