doubleness

[Peter Jiong]

[FONT=&quot]Miss Ley would have thought it highly disgraceful to display feeling at some touching scene. She used polite cynicism as a cloak for sentimentality, laughing that she might not cry—and her want of originality herein, the old repetition of Grimaldi’s doubleness, made her snigger at herself. She felt that tears were unbecoming and foolish.
（from Mrs. Craddock by Maugham）

What does "her want of originality herein, the old repetition of Grimaldi’s doubleness, made her snigger at herself" mean?[/FONT]

 

[GoesStation]

I can only guess that Maugham used the obscure word "doubleness" (which I've never seen until now) in place of the usual duplicity. "Want of" means lack of; "herein" means in the current context. "Snigger" means laugh quietly.

You didn't ask, but that she might not cry is an old-fashioned way to say "in order not to cry; to avoid crying".

Maugham uses very difficult language. Many native speakers would find the texts you've been quoting impossible to understand.

 

[Peter Jiong]

By the way, who is "Grimaldi"?

 

[emsr2d2]

(From Mrs. Craddock by W Somerset Maugham）

When you cite a source, put the book title in italics or quotation marks, and give the full name of the author.

 

[GoesStation]

By the way, who is "Grimaldi"?

I thought he was a previously-mentioned character. If not, a little Googling suggests he might be Joseph Grimaldi, a nineteenth-century Pantomime clown and actor who was apparently still famous in Maugham's day. I don't think "doubleness" means "duplicity" if that's the case. It might be a reference to some acting technique he was known for.