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20 ETON [CHAP. III
.....
and reverently, that some of us learnt from her the priceless
truth of the dependence of humour on the perception
of the Divine.
There were tragedies, not a few, during her long tenure
of the house, indicating the aspect of youthful infirmity
on which no joke is permissible. On these she never spoke
a word, but the follies of some of the parents, any incipent
priggishness, dandyism in the boys, or the touchiness
of some Eton residents or self-importance among the servants,
seemed to yield her such nourishment from their
comicality that, though clearly recognizing the sinfulness,
she was clear in her own thought as to the pure enjoyment
to be got from laughing at them.
Yet with all this, I have the clearest recollection that
there was some element in her character whereby, without
in the least meaning it, she inspired a little fear. I can
only hint at our experienee.
• Her own narrative of the following incident may give
some impression of her discernment. One September as
the" half" was beginning, a dread specimen of the nouveaua:
riches entered the drawing-room : a florid female clothed
in tightly-fitting blue satin and reeking of scent. " Good
morning, Miss Evans. I want you please to take my boy
into your house to-day. He is outside in a cab and his
luggage all with him." Miss Evans, whose house, of
course, was full for years, at once addressed herself to the
task of getting quit of this person without woundipg her ·
feelings. So she rose to her fUll stature--5bout six feetand
with her most winning smile, a rare compound of sweetness
and strength, advanced slowly down the room, her
skirt slightly spread sideways driving the lady before her·
towards the door, as if she were «shooing " a hen out of
the garden ; all the time emp'hasizing her regret at being
obliged to say no : desirous, I gathered, that the visitor
should not say another word on any subject, and feeling
anxious about the atmosphere of her drawing-room. The
exit being aecomplished, she courteously followed her visitor
to the front door and saw in the cab a fat boy in a jacket