--It
was not merely that the very doubtful recognition of his profession
by society had tended to keep him clear of his prejudices, but
both as a painter and a man he found the young fellow exceedingly
attractive;--as a painter from the rare combination of such
strength with such beauty, and as a man from a certain yet rarer
clarity of nature which to the vulgar observer seems fatuity until
he has to encounter it in action, when the contrast is like meeting
a thunderbolt. Naturally the dishonest takes the honest for a fool.
Beyond his understanding, he imagines him beneath it. But Lenorme,
although so much more a man of the world, was able in a measure
to look into Malcolm and appreciate him. His nature and his art
combined in enabling him to do this.
"You see, sir," Malcolm went on, encouraged by the simplicity
of Lenorme's manner, "if they were nothing like us, how should we
be able to get on with them at all, teach them anything, or come
a hair nearer them, do what we might? For all her wickedness I
firmly believe Kelpie has a sort of regard for me--I won't call
it affection, but perhaps it comes as near that as may be possible
in the time to one of her temper."
"Now I hope you will permit me, Mr MacPhail," said Lenorme, who had
been paying more attention to Malcolm than to his words, "to give
a violent wrench to the conversation, and turn it upon yourself.
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