But soon she had to
turn them upon a nearer object.
"How absorbed we are in distant contemplation! A happy sign, I hope, in
these turbulent times. Miss Darling, will you condescend to include me
in your view?"
"I only understand simple English," answered Dolly. "Most of the other
comes from France, perhaps. We believed that you were gone abroad
again."
"I wish that the subject had more interest for you," Carne answered,
with his keen eyes fixed on hers, in the manner that half angered and
half conquered her. "My time is not like that of happy young ladies,
with the world at their feet, and their chief business in it, to
discover some new amusement."
"You are not at all polite. But you never were that, in spite of your
French education."
"Ah, there it is again! You are so accustomed to the flattery of great
people that a simple-minded person like myself has not the smallest
chance of pleasing you. Ah, well! It is my fate, and I must yield to
it."
"Not at all," replied Dolly, who could never see the beauty of that kind
of resignation, even in the case of Dan Tugwell. "There is no such thing
as fate for a strong-willed man, though there may be for poor women."
"May I tell you my ideas about that matter? If so, come and rest for
a moment in a quiet little shelter where the wind is not so cold. For
there is no such thing as Spring in England."
Dolly hesitated, and with the proverbial result.
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