He wanted for once to make the heads of the house of
Bellegarde FEEL him; he knew not when he should have another chance.
He had had for the past six months a sense of the old lady and her son
looking straight over his head, and he was now resolved that they should
toe a mark which he would give himself the satisfaction of drawing.
"It is like seeing a bottle emptied when the wine is poured too slowly,"
he said to Mrs. Tristram. "They make me want to joggle their elbows and
force them to spill their wine."
To this Mrs. Tristram answered that he had better leave them alone
and let them do things in their own way. "You must make allowances for
them," she said. "It is natural enough that they should hang fire a
little. They thought they accepted you when you made your application;
but they are not people of imagination, they could not project
themselves into the future, and now they will have to begin again. But
they are people of honor, and they will do whatever is necessary."
Newman spent a few moments in narrow-eyed meditation. "I am not hard on
them," he presently said, "and to prove it I will invite them all to a
festival."
"To a festival?"
"You have been laughing at my great gilded rooms all winter; I will show
you that they are good for something. I will give a party.
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