196
 

CHAPTER   XII.

LADY  CLAUDIA  IS  VEXED  WITH  MANKIND.

Of course she knew who it was, and her unin¬
viting tone was a result of her knowledge.
We are yet awaiting a systematic treatise on
the psychology of woman: perhaps they^ will
some day be trained highly enough to analyse
themselves. Until this happens, we must wait;
for no man unites the experience and the tem¬
perament necessary. This could be proved, if
proof were required; but, happily, proof of
assertions is not always required, and proof of
this one would lead us into a long digression,
bristling with disputable matter, and requiring
perhaps hardly less rare qualities than the task
of writing the treatise itself. The modest
scribe is reduced to telling how Claudia be¬
haved, without pretending to tell why she be¬
haved so, far less attempting to group her under
a general law. He is comforted in thus taking
a lower place by the thought that after all no¬
body likes being grouped under general laws—
it is more interesting to be peculiar—and that
Claudia would have regarded such an attempt
with  keen  indignation;   and  by  the  further