Chapter 5 Two days after his arrival at Cawnpore Dr. Wade moved into quarters of his own."I like Dr. Wade very much indeed, you know, uncle, still I am glad to have you all to myself and to settle down into regular ways." "Yes, we have got to learn to know each other, Isobel." "Do you think so, uncle? Why, it seems to me that I know all about you, just the same as if we had always been together, and I am sure I always told you all about myself, even when I was bad at school and got into scrapes, because you said particularly that you liked me to tell you everything, and did not want to know only the good side of me." "Yes, that is so, my dear, and no doubt I have a fair idea as to what are your strong points and what are your weak ones, but neither one or the other affect greatly a person's ordinary everyday character. It is the little things, the trifles, the way of talking, the way of listening, the amount of sympathy shown, and so on, that make a man or woman popular. People do not ask whether he or she may be morally sleeping volcanoes, who, if fairly roused, might slay a rival or burn a city; they simply look at the surface--is a man or a woman pleasant, agreeable, easily pleased, ready to take a share in making things go, to show a certain amount of sympathy in other people's pleasures or troubles--in fact, to form a pleasant unit of the society of a station? Copyright © 2004-2005 Classic Book Library |