"Have you come here to lecture and find fault?" she asked, gayly. "Are you sure that you have not made a mistake—wasn't it Rose you wished to scold?"
"I did not come to find fault, Ellen. For weeks I have been crazy to see you; nothing but your express commands kept me away; at last you wrote that I might come; I hurried here, and now you are as cold and distant as if I were a stranger."
"Poor boy, poor boy!"
She patted the hand which he had laid upon the arm of her chair, very much as if it had been a pet lapdog.
Thrasher looked at her, overpowered by astonishment. Where had she learned those arts—that playful manner? He had desired her to educate and improve herself in every way; but here was a change beyond any thing he could have expected.
"How handsome you have grown," he said, suddenly.
"You might as well tell me at once that I was a plain person before."
"You know I always thought you handsomer than any woman I had ever seen; but you are really beautiful now."
Mrs. Mason smiled; her insatiable vanity was gratified by his words and the glance of admiration that enforced them.
"Would you like to see Rose?" she asked.