's
consideration.
    Out of this same airy talk of his, it always soon came to be understood,
wherever he and his wife went, that he had married against the wishes of his
exalted relations, and had had much ado to prevail on them to countenance her.
He never made the representation, on the contrary seemed to laugh the idea to
scorn; but it did happen that, with all his pains to depreciate himself, he was
always in the superior position. From the days of their honeymoon, Minnie Gowan
felt sensible of being usually regarded as the wife of a man who had made a
descent in marrying her, but whose chivalrous love for her had cancelled that
inequality.
    To Venice they had been accompanied by Monsieur Blandois of Paris, and at
Venice Monsieur Blandois of Paris was very much in the society of Gowan. When
they had first met this gallant gentleman at Geneva, Gowan had been undecided
whether to kick him or encourage him; and had remained, for about
four-and-twenty hours, so troubled to settle the point to his satisfaction, that
he had thought of tossing up a five-franc piece on the terms, »Tails, kick;
heads, encourage,« and abiding by the voice of the oracle. It chanced, however,
that his wife expressed a dislike to the engaging Blandois, and that the balance
of feeling in the hotel was against him. Upon that, Gowan resolved to encourage
him.
    Why this perversity, if it were not in a generous fit? - which it was not.
Why should Gowan, very much the superior of Blandois of Paris, and very well
able to pull that prepossessing gentleman to pieces, and find out the stuff he
was made of, take up with such a man? In the first place, he opposed the first
separate wish he observed in his wife, because her father had paid his debts,
and it was desirable to take an early opportunity of asserting his independence.
In the second place, he opposed the prevalent feeling, because, with many
capacities of being otherwise, he was an ill-conditioned man. He found a
pleasure in declaring that a courtier with the refined manners of Blandois ought
to rise to the greatest distinction in any polished country. He found a pleasure
in setting up Blandois as the type of elegance, and making him a satire upon
others who piqued themselves on personal graces. He seriously protested that the
bow of Blandois was perfect, that the address of Blandois was irresistible, and
that the picturesque ease of Blandois would be cheaply purchased (if it were not
a gift