“No,” returned he, “I have come alone; my wife is not fond of travelling in winter.”
The slightest gleam shot from her bright keen eye. “Is she not well?”
“Yes quite well, but not over strong,” he rejoined quietly.
She gave him another quick look, settled some matter with herself and taking off her bonnet, sat down by the fire. At once her sister ceased in her hovering about the room and sitting also, became to all appearance her silent shadow.
“Paula has gone up stairs to take off her bonnet,” the younger woman said in a straightforward manner just short of being brusque. “She is a very remarkable girl, Mr. Sylvester, a genius I suppose some would call her, a child of nature I prefer to say. Whatever there is to be learned in this town she has learned. And in a place where nature speaks and good books abound that is not inconsiderable. I have taken pride in her talents I acknowledge, and have endeavored to do what I could to cultivate them to the best advantage. There is no girl in my school who can write so original a composition, nor is there one with a truer heart or more tractable disposition.”
“You have then been her teacher as well as her friend, she owes you a double debt of gratitude.”
A look hard to understand flashed over her homely face. “I have never thought of debt or gratitude in connection with Paula. The only effort which I have ever made in her behalf which cost me anything, is this one which threatens me with her loss.” Then as if fearing she had said too much, set her firm lips still firmer and ignoring the subject of the child, astonished him by certain questions on the leading issues of the day that at once betrayed a truly virile mind.
“She is a study,” thought he to himself, but meeting her on the ground she had taken, replied at once and to her evident satisfaction in the direct and simple manner that appeals the most forcibly to a strong if somewhat unpolished understanding, while the meek little Miss Abby glanced from one to the other with a humble awe more indicative of her appreciation for their superiority than of her comprehension of the subject.
But what with Miss Belinda’s secret anxiety and Mr. Sylvester’s unconscious listening for a step upon the stair, the conversation, brisk as it had opened, gradually languished, and ere long with a sort of clairvoyant understanding of her sister’s wishes, Miss Abby arose and with her customary jerk left the room for Paula.
“The child is not timid but has an unaccountable aversion to entering the presence of strangers alone,” Miss Belinda explained; but Mr. Sylvester did not hear her, for at that moment the door re-opened and Miss Abby stepped in with the young girl thus heralded.