ভগিনীপতি। There I quite disagree. Do you mean to say she is as great a genius as Shakespere, or even modern—
ভগিনীপতির কথা শেষ করিতে না দিয়াই ডাক্তার খুব সতেজে বলিলেন-"Of course, why not? Though at first I spoke of novelists only—yet if you choose to bring in Shakespear's name I have not the slightest hesitation in pronouncing her to be as great in her sphere, as Shakespeare is, in his.”
এমনতর আস্পদ্ধাপূর্ণ মূর্খামির কথায় ভগিনীপতিকে নিতান্তই বিচলিত করিয়া তুলিল। তিনি ক্রুদ্ধস্বরে বললেন “What a monstrous proposition —Quite blasphemous to my mind. I never heard of such a ridiculous comparison 1 She is no more a Shakespear than you are my dear fellow—however cleverly she might have written her novels.”
ডাক্তার হাসিয়া বলিলেন, “Of course she isn't—how could she possibly be Shakespeare Did I really say such a foolish thing? What I meant to say, and would go on repeating till the end of my life is this—that the genius shown in the works of George Elliot is in no way inferior to that of any renowned poet or novelist of England, dead or alive.”
