Indeed he looked so dismal that the ladies began to think he had a great longing for Besworth. And yet he did not go there, or even praise it to the discredit of Brookfield! They were perplexed.
"Let me ask you how it is," said Cornelia to Mr. Barrett, "that a person whom we know—whose actions and motives are as plain to us as though discerned through a glass, should at times produce a completer mystification than any other creature? Or have you not observed it?"
"I have had better opportunities of observing it than most people," Mr. Barren replied, with one of his saddest amused smiles. "I have come to the conclusion that the person we know best is the one whom we never understand."
"You answer me with a paradox."
"Is it not the natural attendant on an assumption?"
"What assumption?"
"That you know a person thoroughly."
"May we not?"
"Do you, when you acknowledge this 'complete mystification'?"
"Yes." Cornelia smiled when she had said it. "And no."