“I know it would require courage,” she said.
“People would probably call it impertinence. It requires more than courage to be successfully impertinent in this world.”
“Cleverness, Porteus?”
“Genius, the genius of patience, magnanimity, and self-restraint.”
His sister pondered a moment, while Porteus sipped his port.
“Then—there is Catherine?”
Her brother’s keen eyes lit up at the name.
“Ah, there we have a touch of the divine fire.”
“She could help him.”
“Next to God.”