"No. That is most wonderful of all. I am not afraid of you—although I have a cowardly horror of being laughed at."
"A 'horror' you should overcome; it proceeds from vanity. Like most of us, you are not apt to do or say things which you consider particularly silly; and are offended that the public sees them in that light. Lynn is afflicted similarly, in a still greater degree. It will get him into trouble yet."
"He is too independent to vacillate on account of ridicule," said Ida.
"Men style the peevish resentment such dispositions exhibit, 'honor,'" returned Charley, with a half bitter emphasis. "It is one of the million misnomers with which they deceive themselves."
"Among the number I may place my mistaking conceit for sensibility?"
"And concealment of one's feelings for insensibility," he added.
"You misunderstood me, Mr. Dana. I do not think you have a heart of adamant—"
"But that I have none," he interrupted; his kind glance blunting the edge of his words. "We shall understand each other better by and by. You spoke of James a while ago; do you like him?"
"No. He has two defects which spoil everything he writes, at least to me—verbosity and affectation."