“They've all withdrawn from the church, Julia. Guff says they are dissatisfied with me, and will contribute no longer.”
“I don't believe it's so bad as he says. I 'm sure it's not. They cannot be displeased with you, George. It's some mere passing misconception. You know how they 're given to these little bickerings and squabbles; but they have ever been kind and friendly to you.”
“You always give me courage, Ju; and even when I have little heart for it, I like it.”
“Come in to dinner now, George; and if I don't make you laugh, it's a wonder to me. I have had such a scene with Sir Marcus as might have graced a comedy.”
It was not an easy task to rally her brother back to good spirits, but she did succeed at last “And now,” said she, as she saw him looking once more at ease and cheerful, “what news of the Bramleighs—are they ever to come?”
“They'll be here to-morrow evening, Ju. Unless they were quite sure the Culduffs had left for Naples, they would not venture here; and perhaps they were so far in the right.”
“I don't think so; at least, if I had been Nelly, I 'd have given anything for such an opportunity of presenting myself to my distinguished relations, and terrifying them by the thought of those attentions that they can neither give me nor deny me.”
“No, no, Julia, nothing of the kind; there would be malice in that.”
“Do I deny it? A great deal of malice in it, and there's no good comedy in life without a slight flavor of spitefulness. Oh, my poor dear George, what a deep sigh that was! How sad it is to think that all your example and all your precept do so little, and that your sister acquires nothing by your companionship except the skill to torment you.”
“But why will you say those things that you don't mean—that you couldn't feel?”