Quotation from: Villette

Written by: Charlotte Bronte


Yet, no sooner had we reached that place of refuge, than she again
became flat and listless: throwing herself on a couch, she denounced
both the "discours" and the dinner as stupid affairs, and inquired of
her cousin how she could hear such a set of prosaic "gros-bonnets" as
her father gathered about him. The moment the gentlemen were heard to
move, her railings ceased: she started up, flew to the piano, and
dashed at it with spirit. Dr. Bretton entering, one of the first, took
up his station beside her. I thought he would not long maintain that
post: there was a position near the hearth to which I expected to see
him attracted: this position he only scanned with his eye; while
_he_ looked, others drew in. The grace and mind of Paulina
charmed these thoughtful Frenchmen: the fineness of her beauty, the
soft courtesy of her manner, her immature, but real and inbred tact,
pleased their national taste; they clustered about her, not indeed to
talk science; which would have rendered her dumb, but to touch on many
subjects in letters, in arts, in actual life, on which it soon
appeared that she had both read and reflected. I listened. I am sure
that though Graham stood aloof, he listened too: his hearing as well
as his vision was very fine, quick, discriminating. I knew he gathered
the conversation; I felt that the mode in which it was sustained
suited him exquisitely--pleased him almost to pain.

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