"If all mine had turned grey, 'twould be no odds to nobody--as Captain
Zeb says about his income--because I am intended for an old maid." Miss
Darling, whose beauty still lacked many years of its prime, turned away
for a moment, because her eyes were glistening, and her sister was
tired of the subject. "But for yours there are fifty to weep, Dolly.
Especially perhaps this young gentleman, towards whom you feel so much
gratitude."
"How unkind you are, Faith! All the gratitude I owe him is for saving
your life. As for myself, I was flat upon the sand, with a heap of
sea-weed between me and the thing. If it had gone off, it would have
gone over me; but you chose to stand up, like a stupid. Your life was
saved, beyond all doubt, by him; and the way you acknowledge it is to go
and tell his chief enemy that he was there observing him!"
"Well, I never!" Faith exclaimed, with more vigour than grace of
language. "A minute ago you knew nothing of him, and even wondered who
he was, and now you know all about his enemies! I am afraid that you
stick at nothing."
"I don't stick thinking, as you do, Miss," Dolly answered, without
abashment, and knowing that the elder hated to be so addressed; "but
things come to me by the light of nature, without a twelvemonth of
brown-study. When I said what you remind me of, in such a hurry, it was
perfectly true--so true that you need have no trouble about it, with all
your truth.
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