Page 356 - sons-and-lovers

siderable pride.
‘Hello!’ he said, seeing Paul bareheaded. ‘Where are you
going?’
‘Came to meet you. Can’t stand ‘Nevermore.’’
Edgar’s teeth flashed in a laugh of amusement.
‘Who is ‘Nevermore’?’ he asked.
‘The lady—Mrs. Dawes—it ought to be Mrs. The Raven
that quothed ‘Nevermore.’’
Edgar laughed with glee.
‘Don’t you like her?’ he asked.
‘Not a fat lot,’ said Paul. ‘Why, do you?’
‘No!’ The answer came with a deep ring of conviction.
‘No!’ Edgar pursed up his lips. ‘I can’t say she’s much in my
line.’ He mused a little. Then: ‘But why do you call her ‘Nev-
ermore’?’ he asked.
‘Well,’ said Paul, ‘if she looks at a man she says haughtily
‘Nevermore,’ and if she looks at herself in the looking-glass
she says disdainfully ‘Nevermore,’ and if she thinks back
she says it in disgust, and if she looks forward she says it
cynically.’
Edgar considered this speech, failed to make much out of
it, and said, laughing:
‘You think she’s a man-hater?’
‘SHE thinks she is,’ replied Paul.
‘But you don’t think so?’
‘No,’ replied Paul.
‘Wasn’t she nice with you, then?’
‘Could you imagine her NICE with anybody?’ asked the
young man.