The neighbourhood
is deprived of the romance of me being athletic. Such romance as
I have is that of the Inglese Italianato."
"Inglese Italianato?"
"E un diavolo incarnato! You know the proverb?"
She did not. Nor did it seem applicable to a young man who had
spent a quiet winter in Rome with his mother. But Cecil, since
his engagement, had taken to affect a cosmopolitan naughtiness
which he was far from possessing.
"Well," said he, "I cannot help it if they do disapprove of me.
There are certain irremovable barriers between myself and them,
and I must accept them."
"We all have our limitations, I suppose," said wise Lucy.
"Sometimes they are forced on us, though," said Cecil, who saw
from her remark that she did not quite understand his position.
"How?"
"It makes a difference doesn't it, whether we fully fence
ourselves in, or whether we are fenced out by the barriers of
others?"
She thought a moment, and agreed that it did make a difference.
"Difference?" cried Mrs.
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