“And it will be pleasant to have your early friend so near you.”
Mrs. Poyntz lifted her eyes full upon me.
“Do you know Mrs. Ashleigh?”
“Not in the least.”
“She has many virtues and few ideas. She is commonplace weak, as I am commonplace strong. But commonplace weak can be very lovable. Her husband, a man of genius and learning, gave her his whole heart,—a heart worth having; but he was not ambitious, and he despised the world.”
“I think you said your daughter was very much attached to Miss Ashleigh? Does her character resemble her mother’s?”
I was afraid while I spoke that I should again meet Mrs. Poyntz’s searching gaze, but she did not this time look up from her work.
“No; Lilian is anything but commonplace.”
“You described her as having delicate health; you implied a hope that she was not consumptive. I trust that there is no serious reason for apprehending a constitutional tendency which at her age would require the most careful watching!”
“I trust not. If she were to die—Dr. Fenwick, what is the matter?”