My father's hauteur was no safeguard against the steady and self-poised approacheshis shyness found relief in the calm self-reliance of his "left-hand" neighbor; and, as they were both lovers of books, rather than students thereof, a congeniality of tastes on literary subjects drew them together in those hours of leisure which Mr. Bainrothe usually passed in his own or my father's library, in the cultivation of the dolce far nienteI
An imperious and insolent hauteur and reckless prodigality were her most marked peculiarities,just such as were to be expected in an unprincipled woman raised suddenly to high position.