"Of course," was the doctor's warm reply. "Why not? I have not the slightest hesitation in pronouncing her as great in her sphere as Shakespeare was in his."
This seemed to be too bold an assertion for my brother-in-law. He was half angry as he replied, "What a monstrous assertion; it sounds almost like blasphemy. I never heard such a ridiculous comparison. She is no more a Shakespeare than you are, my dear fellow, however cleverly she may have written her novels."
"No, she is not a Shakespeare, nor did I mean to indicate that she was. Perhaps I did not express myself clearly. What I meant to say was that George Eliot is as great in her own line as any author in England, dead or alive."
"That comes to about the same thing. However, prove it to me that she has as great a creative genius as Shakespeare."
"The burden of the proof lies with you, my friend."
To our great relief we heard the dinner bell ring, for my sister and I had become anxious about the outcome of this heated discussion. She therefore remarked smilingly,
