THE HARMONY OF VIRTUE

62 The Harmony of Virtuevirtuous but harmonizes the elements of beauty unskilfully, thepassion of her favourite will wither and not expand.Wilson: That is clear.Keshav: What then will be her manner of harmonizing them?Wilson: I return the question to you.Keshav: Well now, will she not harmonize the phases of herdalliance, and hesitate on the brink of yielding just at the properpitch of his despair, and elude his kiss just at the proper pitch ofhis expectancy, and fan his longing when it sinks, and check itwhen it rises, and surrender herself when he is smouldering withhopeless passion?Wilson: That is probably what she will do.Keshav: And is not that to cast her dalliance in a beautifulform?Wilson: It is.Keshav: But she will not do this grossly and palpably, butwill lead up to everything by looks and tones and gestures so asto glide from one to the other without his perceiving and willsweeten the hard and obvious form by the flavour of the simpleand natural, yet will be all the while the veriest coquette andartist in flirtation.Wilson: Yes, that is what a girl like that would do.Keshav: And is not that to give a subtle perfume to her dalliance?Wilson: I suppose it is.Keshav: But if she is perfect in the art, will she not, evenwhen repulsing him most cruelly, allow a secret tenderness torun through her words and manner, and when she is most tenderlyyielding, will she not show the sharp edge of asperity throughthe flowers, and in a word allow the blended cruelty and sweetnessof her soul to be just palpable to his perceptive senses?Wilson: She will.Keshav: And is not that to suffuse her dalliance with colour?Wilson: Plainly.Keshav: And moreover she will not allow her affectation ofthe natural to be too imperfect to conceal her art or so heavilyscented as to betray the intention, or the colour to be unnotice-