“Don't tell him so, Tony, or maybe you 'd fare worse in the argument. He has a wise, deep head, the doctor.”
“I wish he had a little heart with it,” said Tony, sulkily, and turned again into the garden.
Twice did Jeanie summon him to tea, but he paid no attention to the call; so engrossed, indeed, was he by his thoughts, that he even forgot to smoke, and not impossibly the want of his accustomed weed added to his other embarrassments.
“Miss Dolly's for ganging hame, Master Tony,” said the maid at last, “and the mistress wants you to go wi' her.”
As Tony entered the hall, Dolly was preparing for the road. Coquetry was certainly the least of her accomplishments, and yet there was something that almost verged on it in the hood she wore, instead of a bonnet, lined with some plushy material of a rich cherry color, and forming a frame around her face that set off all her features to the greatest advantage. Never did her eyes look bluer or deeper,—never did the gentle beauty of her face light up with more of brilliancy. Tony never knew with what rapture he was gazing on her till he saw that she was blushing under his fixed stare.
The leave-taking between Mrs. Butler and Dolly was more than usually affectionate; and even after they had separated, the old lady called her back and kissed her again.
“I don't know how mother will bear up after you leave her,” muttered Tony, as he walked along at Dolly's side; “she is fonder of you than ever.”
Dolly murmured something, but inaudibly.
“For my own part,” continued Tony, “I can't believe this step necessary at all. It would be an ineffable disgrace to the whole neighborhood to let one we love and revere as we do him, go away in his old age, one may say, to seek his fortune. He belongs to us, and we to him. We have been linked together for years, and I can't bear the thought of our separating.”
This was a very long speech for Tony, and he felt almost fatigued when it was finished; but Dolly was silent, and there was no means by which he could guess the effect it had produced upon her.