Judging the men
on their own individual merits she might find the bank clerk to be
the better of the two. But a certain sweetness of the aroma of
rank was beginning to permeate her republican senses. The softness
of life in which no occupation was compulsory had its charms for
her. Though she had complained of the insufficient intelligence of
young men she was alive to the delight of having nothings said to
her pleasantly. All this had affected her so strongly that she had
almost felt that a life among these English luxuries would be a
pleasant life. Like most Americans who do not as yet know the
country, she had come with an inward feeling that as an American
and a republican she might probably be despised.
There is not uncommonly a savageness of assertion about Americans
which arises from a too great anxiety to be admitted to fellowship
with Britons. She had felt this, and conscious of reputation
already made by herself in the social life of New York, she had
half trusted that she would be well received in London, and had
half convinced herself that she would be rejected.
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