All natural talk is a festival of ostentation . . . It is from that reason that we venture to lay ourselves so open, that we dare to be so warmly eloquent, and that we swell in each other's eyes to such a vast proportion. For talkers, once launched, begin to overflow the limits of their ordinary selves, tower up to the height of their secret pretensions, and give themselves out for the heroes, brave, pious, musical and wise, that in their most shining moments they aspire to be . . . And when the talk is over, each goes his way, still flushed with vanity and admiration, still trailing clouds of glory . . .