FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111  
112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   >>   >|  
f he was an Englishman, I should say without any hesitation that he is not a gentleman, as we count good breeding and good manners. He is a big man, handsome and burly, and he seems good-tempered. When I told him what was the full amount of Iris's inheritance--" "Iris's inheritance!" Arnold repeated. "I beg your pardon, Clara; pray go on; but it seems like a dream." "He only laughed, and said he was glad she would have so much. The utmost they hoped, he said, was that it might be a farm, or a house or two, or a few hundreds in the stocks. He is to bring her to-morrow, and of course I shall make her stay with me. As for himself, he says that he is only anxious to get back home to his wife and his practice." "He wants nothing for himself, then? That seems a good sign." "I asked him that question, and he said that he could not possibly take money for what he and his family had done for Iris; that is to say, her education and maintenance. This was very generous of him. Perhaps he is really a gentleman by birth, but has provincial manners. He said, however, that he had no objection to receiving the small amount of money spent on the voyage and on Iris's outfit, because they were not rich people, and it was a serious thing to fit out a young lady suitably. So of course I gave him what he suggested, a check for two hundred pounds. No one, he added with true feeling, would grudge a single dollar that had been spent upon the education of the dear girl; and this went to my heart." "She is well educated, then?" "She sings well," he says, "and has had a good plain education. He said I might rest assured that she was ladylike, because she had been brought up among his own friends." "That is a very safe guarantee," said Arnold, laughing. "I wonder if she is pretty?" "I asked him that question too, and he replied very oddly that she had a most splendid figure, which fetched everybody. Is not that rather a vulgar expression?" "It is, in England. Perhaps in America it belongs to the first circles, and is a survival of the Pilgrim Fathers. So you gave him a check for two hundred pounds?" "Yes; surely I was not wrong, Arnold. Consider the circumstances, the outfit and the voyage, and the man's reluctance and delicacy of feeling." "I dare say you were quite right, but--well, I think I should have seen the young lady first. Remember, you have given the money to a stranger, on his bare word." "Oh, Arnold, this m
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111  
112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
Arnold
 

education

 

Perhaps

 
gentleman
 

question

 

pounds

 

manners

 

inheritance

 

amount

 

hundred


feeling

 
voyage
 

outfit

 
ladylike
 
dollar
 

assured

 

brought

 

single

 

grudge

 

educated


stranger

 

England

 

America

 

belongs

 

vulgar

 
expression
 

circles

 

reluctance

 

circumstances

 

Consider


surely

 

survival

 
Pilgrim
 

Fathers

 

delicacy

 

laughing

 

pretty

 

guarantee

 

friends

 

replied


figure
 
fetched
 

splendid

 

Remember

 

laughed

 
pardon
 

hundreds

 
stocks
 
utmost
 

hesitation