This page has been validated.
222
THE EUROPEANS.
[CH.
was he was not quite so relaxed as he pre tended. To a certain extent, he sought refuge from shyness in this appearance of relaxation; and like many persons in the same circumstances, he somewhat exaggerated the appearance. Beyond this, the air of being much at his ease was a cover for vigilant observation. He was more than interested in this clever woman, who, what ever he might say, was clever not at all after the Boston fashion; she plunged him into a kind of excitement, held him in vague suspense. He was obliged to admit to himself that he had never yet seen a woman just like this—not even in China. He was ashamed, for inscrutable reasons, of the vivacity of his emotion, and he carried it off,
