From Robert Louis Stevenson's essay *An Apology for Idlers* (1881). Select the word that fits the blank. "Books are good enough in their own way, but they are a mighty ______ substitute for life. It seems a pity to sit, like the Lady of Shalott, peering into a mirror, with your back turned on all the bustle and glamour of reality."

Stevenson's metaphor pits *books* against the *bustle and glamour of reality*. The Lady of Shalott image — a mirror, a turned back, a withdrawal — emphasises the *deadness* of mediated experience compared to the living world. "Bloodless" — drained of vitality, lifeless — captures the contrast. A *bloodless substitute* is one that lacks the warm-bodied reality of life itself. - "Expensive," "learned," and "ancient" all describe books in some way but miss the *life vs. lifelessness* axis Stevenson is building. The figure of speech here is essentially: blood = life. To say something is *bloodless* is to mark it as a pale, lifeless imitation.