She was an excellent judge of novels and poems, but on such topics she always relied, with a feminine humility, on the opinions of more competent authorities. There, in such wavering realms of caprice, she thought, a single individual’s taste was in no position to ascertain the truth. But when it came to the things whose rules and principles her mother had taught her - how certain dishes should be prepared, how Beethoven’s sonatas should be played, how a guest should be made to feel welcome - she knew she possessed the correct idea of perfection and could discern the greater or lesser extent
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