The fashions are growing so ridiculous now--it is a happy thing
for us that we are a hundred years behind them, as Eliza Twemlow had the
impudence to say; and really, for the daughter of a clergyman--"
"I don't care that for Eliza Twemlow," the Admiral exclaimed, with a
snap of his thumb. "Let her show herself as much as there is demand for.
Or rather, what I mean to say is, let Miss Twemlow be as beautiful as
nature has made her, my dear; and no doubt that is very considerable.
But I like you to be different; and you are. I like you to be simple,
and shy, and retiring, and not to care twopence what any one thinks of
you, so long as your father is contented."
Dolly looked at her father, as if there were no other man in the world
for the moment. Then her conscience made her bright eyes fall, as she
whispered: "To be sure, papa. I only put these things on to please you;
and if you don't like them, away they go. Perhaps I should look nicer in
my great-aunt's shawl. And my feet would be warmer, oh ever so much! I
know where it is, and if you prefer the look of it--"
"No, no!" cried the simple old father, as the girl tripped away in hot
haste to seek for it; "I forbid you to make such a guy of yourself. You
must not take my little banter, darling, in such a matter-of-fact way,
or I must hold my tongue."
"Thank God," he continued to himself, as Miss Dolly ran away, to repair
her damages; "the simple little soul thinks of nobody but me! How could
I be such a fool as to imagine harm of her? Why, she is quite a child, a
bigger child than I am.
Pages:
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334