"Why, Uncle Robert, I never dreamed you didn"t like Marion!"
"Did I say I did not?" asked her uncle, as he unfolded the newspaper, and glanced down its columns.
"No, you didn"t say exactly those words, but you implied it."
"I was not aware of the fact," said the doctor, as he lighted his cigar.
"You said there was something about her different from Florence, and I agreed with you. I suppose, with feminine perversity, you would have preferred that I should have disagreed, thus giving you an opportunity to make an argument in favor of your side of the question; next time I"ll remember."
"Uncle Robert, you are perfectly provoking!" exclaimed Rachel, jumping up, and taking the paper away from him; "there!--you shan"t have it until you"ve said something in Marion"s favor."
"Very well," replied her uncle, slightly raising his eyebrows; "you enumerate the catalogue of her virtues, and I"ll subscribe to all I can."
"In the first place, she"s very handsome," commenced Rachel.
"Well, no, not exactly what I call handsome," said the doctor in a deliberating tone; "she"s not large enough for that."
"Beautiful then; that"s better still."
"Well, yes,--I suppose you think so."
"But it isn"t to be what I think," impatiently replied Rachel. "You certainly _must_ acknowledge she has beautiful eyes; true as steel; the kind of eyes you could trust!"
"I"ll examine them the next time I see her," replied Dr. Drayton, as he laid back in his chair, and puffed a cloud of smoke into the air.
"Excellence No. 3, if you please, Rachel."
"She"s very intelligent, and an excellent scholar," replied Rachel, tapping the floor with her foot, and trying not to get provoked.
"As yet I have never had any conversation with her of any deeper import than the shade of your window-curtains; but I"ve no doubt she"s at home with any subject, and is a perfect walking "Encyclopaedia Americana.""
"Uncle Robert, you are incorrigible! you are determined _not_ to see any good in her."
"Not at all, my dear; the difficulty is, that after a six weeks"
acquaintance, you expect me to be as enthusiastic over her as you are after a lengthy _school-girl_ intimacy."
"I know what you mean to insinuate by a "school-girl intimacy," and I agree with you that as a general thing they don"t amount to anything; but just let me tell you what Marion did for me, and then see if you"ll wonder that I"m "_enthusiastic_" over her."
"Go on; I am prepared for anything. I suppose she rescued you from a "watery grave" in true novel fashion."
"She did more than that; she risked finding one herself. She walked all alone, at midnight, from our school to the doctor"s house, which is at least a mile and a half, and crossed the river on a bridge _that the flooring was taken off, and nothing for her to walk on but the beam where the railing was_!"
"A heroine, as I live!" cried the doctor, holding up both hands; "something of which I"ve always had an innate horror."
"Uncle Robert," said Rachel, really hurt, "I thought after that you"d at least show some regard for her, if only for my sake."
"My dear girl," he replied, drawing her towards him, "I certainly will acknowledge that it was very brave in her; now give me my newspaper."
"You don"t deserve it, but you shall have it, if you will let Marion join our lessons."
"I should be delighted to have her; and Miss Florence too."
"Florence won"t be able to give her time to it, I know. She can"t come to make me a visit until spring, for she was away all summer, and her father can"t spare her yet."
"Very well; you arrange everything with Mrs. Berkley; only the time must not interfere with office-hours; before or after that I am at your service."
"You"re the dearest uncle in the world!" exclaimed Rachel, kissing him.
"Even if I don"t worship your heroine."
"Oh, don"t call her a _heroine_, for mercy"s sake! and above all don"t ever let her know that I told you."
"My lips shall be sealed on the subject. Now run off, and let me read my paper in peace."
Marion was very much pleased with the plan for the French and German lessons, and it was arranged that they should devote two hours, twice a week, to each language, meeting alternately at Marion"s and Rachel"s houses. Marion was a very good French scholar, and could manage to make herself understood in German; but she was really afraid of Dr. Drayton, and never did herself justice at the lessons. He was very patient and kind, but nevertheless very critical, and corrected the p.r.o.nunciation of their German so many times, that Marion at last declared she never would say another word, for she knew she never could suit him; but she found him even more determined than M. Beranger, and soon learned, that if the lessons went on at all, his directions must be strictly attended to; and after a while the girls never thought of speaking English, during their French and German hours. Mr. Berkley, who happened to look in upon them one day when they were carrying on quite an excited argument, declared they were all jabbering just to hear themselves talk, for he knew perfectly well they couldn"t any one of them understand a word the others were saying.
The intimacy between the two families increased daily, and the Berkleys welcomed Dr. Drayton most cordially to their family circle, finding him in every way a most delightful companion. Intelligent, cultivated, and refined, and having travelled over almost every country in Europe, he had the rare gift of describing everything he had seen in such a manner as to bring it vividly before the minds of his hearers, without incessantly introducing the personal p.r.o.noun, which, as a general thing, finds its way so often into a traveller"s account of his journeyings.
He became a general favorite with the family. Charley always ran to meet him, and commenced a raid upon his pockets, sure of finding something stowed away there for his especial benefit; the baby crowed with delight whenever he came near him; and Fred bestowed upon him, after their first meeting, the highest compliment he could pay a man,--"he was a regular brick!" But Marion declared "she thought they made altogether too much fuss over him, and she did not intend to join with the family in setting him up as a perfect hero; she must say she thought he was rather conceited, for he never paid her any attention, and when young people were there, and they were all having a nice time in the parlor, he always sat off with papa and mamma, in the library, as if he thought himself above such childish follies."
CHAPTER XXIII.
THE DeBUT INTO SOCIETY.
"And so it is to be a regular "come-out party,"" said Dr. Drayton one evening as he sat smoking with Mr. Berkley in the library, the rest of the family being in the parlor.
"Yes, a regular "come-out party,"" repeated Mr. Berkley; "but I don"t intend to dash out, and make a great spread; hire Papanti"s hall, etc. I don"t like that sort of thing. I shall invite enough to fill the house, and yet not have it a perfect jam; have half-a-dozen pieces of music, and a good supper; that"s my idea of a party."
"And a very correct idea, I should say," said the doctor.
"Mrs. Berkley rather objected to giving it at all this winter. Marion is still so young, she wanted me to wait another year; but you see, doctor, I"m pretty proud of my only daughter, and I want her to go about in society, before I get too old to go with her."
"How old is Miss Marion?" asked Dr. Drayton.
"Eighteen last May."
"Older than Rachel; I thought her younger."
"She looks younger, I think myself, and sometimes seems younger still; but there"s good stuff there. She"s like her mother, and if I do say it, she"ll make a n.o.ble woman."
"If she proves to be like her mother, she certainly will," replied Dr.
Drayton. "Mrs. Berkley is just my idea of what a wife and mother ought to be."
"That remark proves you a man of sense and discernment," said Mr.
Berkley, highly gratified, both by Dr. Drayton"s words, and the warmth of his tone. "But about this party; of course you will come, and dance the "German.""