She cast a look of childlike confidence
upon her rival, and then closed her eyes, and tried not to tremble all
over and listen like a frightened hare.
-----
It is one great characteristic of genius to do great things with little
things. Paxton could see that so small a matter as a greenhouse could be
dilated into a crystal palace, and with two common materials--glass and
iron--he raised the palace of the genii; the brightest idea and the
noblest ornament added to Europe in this century--the koh-i-noor of the
west. Livy's definition of Archimedes goes on the same ground.
-----
Peg Woffington was a genius in her way. On entering Triplet's studio her
eye fell upon three trifles--Mrs. Vane's hood and mantle, the back of an
old letter, and Mr. Triplet. (It will be seen how she worked these slight
materials.) On the letter was written in pencil simply these two words,
"Mabel Vane." Mrs. Woffington wrote above these words two more, "Alone
and unprotected." She put this into Mr. Triplet's hand, and bade him take
it down stairs and give it Sir Charles Pomander, whose retreat, she knew,
must have been fictitious. "You will find him round the corner," said
she, "or in some shop that looks this way." While uttering these words
she had put on Mrs. Vane's hood and mantle.
No answer was returned, and no Triplet went out of the door.
She turned, and there he was kneeling on both knees close under her.
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