and our mild great faced white haired red cheeked German was not to be seen, not at first—­for as the glory was at its full, my cousin twisted me round and made me see an arm, only an arm, all the body of its owner being amalgamated with a dense crowd on each side, before, and—­not behind, because they, the crowd, occupied the last benches, over which we looked—­and this arm waved and exulted as if ’for the dignity of the whole body,’—­relieved it of its dangerous accumulation of repressed excitability.  When the crowd broke up all the rest of the man disengaged itself by slow endeavours, and there stood our friend confessed—­as we were sure!

—­Now, you would have bade him keep his arm quiet?  ’Lady Geraldine, you would!’

I have read those novels—­but I must keep that word of words, ‘genius’—­for something different—­’talent’ will do here surely.

There lies ’Consuelo’—­done with!

I shall tell you frankly that it strikes me as precisely what in conventional language with the customary silliness is styled a woman’s book, in its merits and defects,—­and supremely timid in all the points where one wants, and has a right to expect, some fruit of all the pretence and George Sand_ism_.  These are occasions when one does say, in the phrase of her school, ‘que la Femme parle!’ or what is better, let her act! and how does Consuelo comfort herself on such an emergency?  Why, she bravely lets the uninspired people throw down one by one their dearest prejudices at her feet, and then, like a very actress, picks them up, like so many flowers, returning them to the breast of the owners with a smile and a courtesy and trips off the stage with a glance at the Pit.  Count Christian, Baron Frederic, Baroness—­what is her name—­all open their arms, and Consuelo will not consent to entail disgrace &c. &c.  No, you say—­she leaves them in order to solve the problem of her true feeling, whether she can really love Albert; but remember that this is done, (that is, so much of it as ever is done, and as determines her to accept his hand at the very last)—­this is solved sometime about the next morning—­or earlier—­I forget—­and in the meantime, Albert gets that ’benefit of the doubt’ of which chapter the last informs you.  As for the hesitation and self examination on the matter of that Anzoleto—­the writer is turning over the leaves of a wrong dictionary, seeking help from Psychology, and pretending to forget there is such a thing as Physiology.  Then, that horrible Porpora:—­if George Sand gives him to a Consuelo for an absolute master, in consideration of his services specified, and is of opinion that they warrant his conduct, or at least, oblige submission to it,—­then, I find her objections to the fatherly rule of Frederic perfectly impertinent—­he having a few claims upon the gratitude of Prussia also, in his way, I believe!  If the strong ones will make the weak ones lead them—­then,