“Oh, very kind, no doubt of it,——very kind indeed!” said Dalton, with a laugh of most dubious expression. “Did he say nothing of Frank's debt to him? Has n't that 'I O U' You were talking to me about anything to say to this visit?”
“He never spoke of it, never alluded to it,” cried she, eagerly.
“Maybe he won't be so delicate with me,” said Dalton. “Sit down, Mr. Brawer; make no ceremony here. We 're stopping in this little place till our house is got ready for us. So you saw Frank, and he's looking well?”
“The finest youth in the regiment. They know him through all Vienna as the 'Handsome Cadet.'”
“And so gentle-mannered and unaffected,” cried Nelly.
“Kind and civil to his inferiors?” said Dalton; “I hope he's that?”
“He condescended to know me,” said Brawer, “and call me his friend.”
“Well, and maybe ye were,” said Peter, with a majestic wave of the hand. “A real born gentleman, as Frank is, may take a beggar off the streets and be intimate with him. Them's my sentiments. Mark what I say, Mr. Brawer, and you 'll find, as you go through life, if it is n't true; good blood may mix with the puddle every day of the year, and not be the worse of it!”
“Frank is so grateful to you,” broke in Nelly, eagerly; “and we are so grateful for all your kindness to him!”
“What an honor to me! that he should so speak of me!” said the pedler, feelingly,—“I, who had no claim upon his memory.”