Well, bisexuality's a possibility, I was just saying there's little real indication of it; we don't see Irene interacting with any other females, so it would have to be inferred from literary inspirations and/or cultural signifiers. It'd be interesting to see the case properly put, though; it's been a while since I read that story and I'd have to do more reading about 19th century lesbianism (all I know comes from Victorian and 18th century porn, the idea of romantic friendships, biographies of crossdressing women and some anecdotes about the lack of legislation, and it's all sort of jumbled together in my head). Irene does cross the gender line quite gleefully, though, and it would be interesting to think about how that might compare to modern genderqueer identities.

Now my mind's going off on a tangent about women's rights movement and caricatures of the activists and that naughty "bifurcated girls" magazine cover I saw in The History of Girly Magazines. This is why I'm bad at academic discussions. All connections and no conclusions.