"What
next will he say?" she thought to herself. "I must put this presuming
man in his proper place." She darted another annihilating look at him,
as she spoke in her turn. "May I ask, Mr.--Mr.----?"
"Dingwell," said Rufus, prompting her.
"May I ask, Mr. Dingwell, if you have favoured me by calling here at
the request of Mr. Goldenheart?"
Genial and simple-minded as he was, eagerly as he desired to appreciate
at her full value the young lady who was one day to be the wife of
Amelius, Rufus felt the tone in which those words were spoken. It was
not easy to stimulate his modest sense of what was fairly due to him
into asserting itself, but the cold distrust, the deliberate distance
of Regina's manner, exhausted the long-suffering indulgence of this
singularly patient man. "The Lord, in his mercy, preserve Amelius from
marrying You," he thought, as he rose from his chair, and advanced with
a certain simple dignity to take leave of her.
"It did not occur to me, miss, to pay my respects to you, till Amelius
and I had parted company," he said. "Please to excuse me. I should have
been welcome, in my country, with no better introduction than being (as
I may say) his friend and well-wisher.
Pages:
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216