less flattering cause

[beeja]

Hello,

I have a question, from the below text, I don't understand what the red sentence really means. Pls help.

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"They're just scared of you"
"Of me? Why?"
She pressed her lips together, angrier than I'd ever seen. But she couldn't explain me why.
I began to notice things. My maid servants kept their distance until summoned. Even my father was uneasy when he visited me and rarely looked directly into my eyes. I began to wonder whether my brother's teacher's nervousness at my interruptoins had a less flattering cause than my beauty. And whether my lack of friends and visitors was due not to my father's strictness but to people's wariness of someone who was not born like a normal girl.

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Thank you.

[Tdol]

At first she thought that it was her beauty that made the teacher nervous, then she began to think that there might be another reason. If someone is so affected by your beauty that they become nervous, it is flattering. If they find it hard to talk to you because they're scared, it isn't.

[beeja]

I understand what you explained but I still didn't get it. I thought she didn't recognize her beauty until other people started doing something weird to her.

From the sentence, I began to wonder whether my brother's teacher's nervousness at my interruptoins had a less flattering cause than my beauty., so she began to think that the teacher's nervousness could be caused by her beauty (as she didn't notice her beauty).

However, from the context, the teacher jumped and the books he carried were dropped when she shew up and gave him a brilliant smile. It's nervousness but is that flattering? If not use the word "flattering" what else could we use?

Tks, beeja

[David L.]

However, from the context, the teacher jumped and the books he carried were dropped when she shew up and gave him a brilliant smile. It's nervousness but is that flattering? If not use the word "flattering" what else could we use?


It's nervousness but is that flattering? :it would be if she was sure it was because he felt overwhelmed by her beauty. But...BUT..."I began to wonder..."
....she is having doubts about that explanation...perhaps there is another explanation, one that is "less flattering"...is he scared of me?

Tdol: At first she thought that it was her beauty that made the teacher nervous, then she began to think that there might be another reason.
(One reason is: If someone is so affected by your beauty that they become nervous, it is flattering.

(Another reason, one that now she thinks of:) If they find it hard to talk to you because they're scared, it isn't (so flattering).