"Where do you walk?"
"There is Battersea Park; there are the squares; and if you take an omnibus, there are the Gardens and Hyde Park."
"But never alone, Iris?"
"Oh, yes, I am often alone. Why not?"
"I suppose," said Arnold, shirking the question, because this is a civilized country, and in fact, why not? "I suppose that it is your work which keeps you from feeling life dull and monotonous."
"No life," she said, looking as wise as Newton, if Newton was ever young and handsome—"no life can be dull when one is thinking about mathematics all day. Do you study mathematics?"
"No; I was at Oxford, you know."
"Then perhaps you prefer metaphysics? Though Lala Roy says that the true metaphysics, which he has tried to teach me, can only be reached by the Hindoo intellect."
"No, indeed; I have never read any metaphysics whatever. I have only got the English intellect." This he said with intent satirical, but Iris failed to understand it so, and thought it was meant for a commendable humility.
"Physical science, perhaps?"