suffered from that impunity in insult which has been reckoned among the
privileges of women.
    »Madam,« said Klesmer, »certain reasons forbid me to retort. But understand
that I consider it out of the power either of you or of your fortune to confer
on me anything that I value. My rank as an artist is of my own winning, and I
would not exchange it for any other. I am able to maintain your daughter, and I
ask for no change in my life but her companionship.«
    »You will leave the house, however,« said Mrs. Arrowpoint.
    »I go at once,« said Klesmer, bowing and quitting the room.
    »Let there be no misunderstanding, mamma,« said Catherine; »I consider
myself engaged to Herr Klesmer, and I intend to marry him.«
    The mother turned her head away and waved her hand in sign of dismissal.
    »It's all very fine,« said Mr. Arrowpoint, when Catherine was gone; »but
what the deuce are we to do with the property?«
    »There is Harry Brendall. He can take the name.«
    »Harry Brendall will get through it all in no time,« said Mr. Arrowpoint,
relighting his cigar.
    And thus, with nothing settled but the determination of the lovers, Klesmer
had left Quetcham.
 

                                 Chapter XXIII

            Among the heirs of Art, as at the division of the promised land,
            each has to win his portion by hard fighting: the bestowal is after
            the manner of prophecy, and is a title without possession. To carry
            the map of an ungotten estate in your pocket is a poor sort of
            copyhold. And in fancy to cast his shoe over Edom is little warrant
            that a man shall ever set the sole of his foot on an acre of his own
            there.
 
            The most obstinate beliefs that mortals entertain about themselves
            are such as they have no evidence for beyond a constant, spontaneous
            pulsing of their self-satisfaction - as it were a hidden seed of
            madness, a confidence that they can move the world without precise
            notion of standing-place or lever.
 
»Pray go to church, mamma,« said Gwendolen the next morning. »I prefer seeing
Herr Klesmer alone.« (He had written in reply to her note that he would be with
her at eleven.)
    »That is hardly correct, I think,« said Mrs. Davilow, anxiously.
    »Our affairs are too serious for us to think of such nonsensical rules,«
said Gwendolen, contemptuously. »They are insulting as well as ridiculous.