Her present image had more in common with her reflection at fifteen, a broad and sturdy schoolgirlishness, than it had with herself of only six months ago.

time is of the essence

Long after his cigar burnt bitter, he sat with eyes fixed on the blaze. When the flames at last began to flicker and subside, his lids fluttered, then drooped; but he had lost all reckoning of time when he opened them again to find Miss Erroll in furs and ball-gown kneeling on the hearth[…].

Or, to put it otherwise yet once again: if truth and fidelity are the religion of the critic, the incidental creations of his glowing mind are his aberglaube — his “extra-belief”; and it has been known for these products of critical enthusiasm to exceed in value the texts in which they germinated.