HE SHOWS HIS PERFECT MASTERY OVER THE CERATOPSIDAE.
(_See Proceedings of the British Association at Leeds._)]
* * * * *
CUPID AND MINERVA.
(_FRAGMENT FROM AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY THAT IT IS HOPED WILL NEVER BE
WRITTEN._)
I was most anxious that my past should be concealed from him, as I
felt that once revealed, it would come between us as a barrier for
ever! So I dissembled. I adapted my conversation to his capabilities.
I learned to talk of lawn tennis, cricket, politics, even cookery.
Only on one occasion did I betray myself. With self-abasement I was
asking for an explanation of the electric telegraph. He gave me a
somewhat faulty definition.
"Dear me!" I cried. "How did they ever come to think of such a clever
thing?"
"_Omne ign[)o]tum pro magnifico_," he replied, with condescension.
I could not bear the false quantity even from _his_ lips, and I asked,
"Would not _ign[=o]tum_ be better, darling?"
I could have bitten out my tongue for such an indiscretion. He looked
at me sharply, with a glance of covert distrust.
"What do _you_ know about it?" he asked, somewhat brusquely.
"Nothing, nothing!" I said, confusedly. "I happened to be looking
through an Explanatory Pronouncing Dictionary of Latin Quotations, and
found the passage."
"Beware of consulting text-books," he returned, sententiously. "A
little knowledge is a dangerous thing."
For the moment I was safe, but I knew that the confidence that
hitherto had existed between us was shaken and lessened.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25