“He is by no means so dull as you suppose,” he rejoined significantly.
“No; Miss Paske is a sympathetic little creature, and has a pleasant voice,” observed Miss Valpy, with a satirical tightening of the lips. “By the way, with his chubby cheeks and bandaged eyes, did Sir Gloster not strike you as a grotesque copy of the god Cupid?”
“To quote the immortal Mrs. Gamp—I don’t believe there was ever such a person. Do you, Jervis?”
“Mr. Jervis will not agree with you,” rejoined Miss Valpy, scrutinizing him critically. What sincere eyes he had—eyes only for Honor Gordon—and there was a wonderful amount of dormant force in the curve of that well-formed chin and jaw.
“I am not a coarse heretic like Captain Scrope, but I cannot say that I have ever made his personal acquaintance.”
“No!” exclaimed Miss Valpy, with a slightly incredulous glance. “Then I do not think you will have long to wait.”
Miss Valpy’s sharp eyes and tongue were notorious all over Shirani. Jervis surveyed her with a look of cool polite scrutiny as he answered with a nonchalance impossible to convey—
“Possibly not—they say every thing comes to those who wait.”
“And how is Sweet? our own choice particular Sweet?” inquired Mr. Brande, as he laid down his cup and addressed himself to Captain Scrope. “I am languishing for news of the little darling.”
“The pretty child still endears herself to every one! All our special skeletons continue to be dragged out into the light of day. Her last feat was to ask Mrs. Turner where her second face was, as Mr. Glover said she had two! I wish some one would take your little darling home! Poor as I am, I would gladly contribute to her passage.”