“You mean a fair man?”
“Yes, with a meaningless mouth. Jimmy mustn’t grow up into anything of that kind.”
The conversation took a decidedly Doric turn as Mrs. Clarke developed her ideas of what a man ought to be. In the midst of it Dion remembered Dumeny, and could not help saying:
“But that type”—they had been speaking of what he considered to be Rosamund’s type of man, once described by her as “a strong soul in a strong body, and a soft heart but not a softy’s heart”—“is almost the direct opposite of the artistic type of man, isn’t it?”
Her large eyes looked “Well?” at him, but she said nothing.
“I thought you cared so very much for knowledge and taste in a man.”
“So I do. But Jimmy will never have knowledge and taste. He’s the boisterous athletic type.”
“And you’re glad?”
“Not sorry, at any rate. He’ll just be a thorough man, if he’s brought up properly, and that will do very well.”
“I think you’re very complex,” Dion said, still thinking of Dumeny.