Mr. Gumberg's assertion was not without a note of interrogation. He sometimes felt an uneasy suspicion that his standards, especially in the matter of feminine loveliness, were not always blindly accepted by the generations that had succeeded his own. But Downing's answer reassured him.
'I agree with you absolutely,' he said very gravely. 'I do not remember a more beautiful woman, even in the old days.'
This tribute to his taste sent Mr. Gumberg to bed in high good-humour; and as he made his slow progress along the passage, leaning on Downing's friendly arm, he kept muttering, 'Glad you met her—glad you met her.' So often are we inclined to rejoice at happenings which, if we knew more, we might regard as calamities.
CHAPTER III
'... a queen
By virtue of her brow and breast;
Not needing to be crowned, I mean.'
Browning.