"Fleda, does it seem pleasant to be here again?"
"Very pleasant, dear aunt Lucy, though I have had a very pleasant visit too."
"On the whole, you do not wish you were at this moment driving out of town in Mr. Thorn"s cabriolet?" said her cousin.
"Not in the least," said Fleda, coolly. How did you know I ever did such a thing?"
"I wonder what should bring Mr. Thorn to Queechy at this time of year," said Hugh.
Fleda started at this confirmation of Constance"s words; and, what was very odd, she could not get rid of the impression that Mr. Rossitur had started too. Perhaps it was only her own nerves, but he had certainly taken away the arm that was round her.
"I suppose he has followed Miss Ringgan," said Charlton, gravely.
"No," said Hugh, "he has been here some little time."
"Then he preceded her, I suppose, to see and get the sleighs in order."
"He did not know I was coming," said Fleda.
"Didn"t!"
"No, I have not seen him for several days."
"My dear little cousin," said Charlton, laughing, "you are not a witch in your own affairs, whatever you may be in those of other people."
"Why, Charlton?"
"You are no adept in the art of concealment."
"I have nothing to conceal," said Fleda. "How do you know he is here, Hugh?"
"I was anxiously asked the other day," said Hugh, with a slight smile, "whether you had come home, and then told that Mr. Thorn was in Queechy. There is no mistake about it, for my informant had actually seen him, and given him the directions to Mr. Plumfield"s, for which he was inquiring."
"The direction to Mr. Plumfield"s!" said Fleda.
"What"s your old friend, Mr. Carleton, doing in New York?"
said Charlton.
"Is he there still?" said Mrs. Rossitur.
"Large as life," answered her son.
"Which, though you might not suppose it, aunt Lucy, is about the height of Captain Rossitur, with ? I should judge ? a trifle less weight."
"Your eyes are observant!" said Charlton.
"Of a good many things," said Fleda, lightly.
"He is _not_ my height by half an inch!" said Charlton; "I am just six feet without my boots."
"An excellent height!" said Fleda ? " "your six feet was ever the only height." "
"Who said that?" said Charlton.
"Isn"t it enough that I say it?"
"What"s he staying here for?"
"I don"t know really," said Fleda. "It"s very difficult to tell what people do things for."
"Have you seen much of him?" said Mrs. Rossitur.
"Yes, Ma"am, a good deal ? he was often at Mrs. Evelyn"s."
"Is he going to marry one of her daughters?"
"Oh, no!" said Fleda, smiling; "he isn"t thinking of such a thing; ? not in America ? I don"t know what he may do in England."
"No!" said Charlton, "I suppose he would think himself contaminated by matching with any blood in this hemisphere."
"You do him injustice" said Fleda, colouring; ? "you do not know him, Charlton."
"You do?"
"Much better than that."
"And he is not one of the most touch-me-not pieces of English birth and wealth that ever stood upon their own dignity?"
"Not at all," said Fleda, ? "How people may be misunderstood!
? he is one of the most gentle and kind persons I ever saw."
"To you!"
"To everybody that deserves it."
"Humph! ? And not proud?"
"No, not as you understand it," ? and she felt it was very difficult to make him understand it, as the discovery involved a very offensive implication; ? "he is too fine a character to be proud."
"That _is_ arguing in a circle with a vengeance!" said Charlton.
"I know what you are thinking of," said Fleda, "and I suppose it pa.s.ses for pride with a great many people who cannot comprehend it ? he has a singular power of quietly rebuking wrong, and keeping impertinence at a distance ? where, Captain Rossitur, for instance, I suppose, would throw his cap in a man"s face, Mr. Carleton"s mere silence would make the offender doff his and ask pardon."
The manner in which this was said precluded all taking offence.
"Well," said Charlton, shrugging his shoulders "then I don"t know what pride is ? that"s all!"
"Take care, Captain Rossitur," said Fleda, laughing ? "I have heard of such a thing as American pride before now."