"But scarcely 'pretty manners,' I should suppose," said Pointed Beard superciliously.
"Why not?" said Angelica. "Sincerity and refinement make good manners, and principle is the parent of both."
"Don't you think that for the most part Englishwomen are singularly lacking in charms of manner?" he asked precisely.
"Just as Englishmen are, and for the same reason," said Angelica; "because they only try to be agreeable when it suits themselves. A good manner is a decoration that must be kept on always if it is to be worn with ease. Good manners are rare because good feeling is rare, for good manners are the outcome of good feeling. Manners are not the mere society show of politeness, but the inward kindly sympathy of which politeness is the natural outward manifestation; given these, grace and charm of manner come of themselves."
She moved off as she spoke to attend to other guests.
"Mrs. Kilroy is obvious," said Pointed Beard, in a tone that suggested sympathy with Beth for being bored. "I wonder she did not give us 'For manners are not idle,' et cetera, or something equally banal—the kind of thing we are taught in our infancy——"
"And fail to apply ever after," said Beth.
"I see you are ready," he observed fatuously, striking the personal note again, which she resented.
"I dislike that cant of the obvious which there is so much of here in town," she rejoined. "It savours of preciosity. All that is finest in thought is obvious. A great truth, well put, when heard for the first time, is so crystal clear to the mind, one seems to have known it always. No one fears to be obvious who has anything good to say."
He stroked his beard in silence for some seconds. "I suppose you go in for politics, and all that sort of thing," he said at last.