“And how might that be?”
“Very amusing at some moments; very absent at others; very desirous to be thought lenient and charitable in your judgments of people, while evidently thinking the worst of every one; and with a rare frankness about yourself that, to any one not very much interested to learn the truth, was really as valuable as the true article.”
“But you never charged me with any ungenerous use of my advantage; to make professions, for instance, because I found you alone.”
“A little—a very little of that—there was; just as children stamp on thin ice and run away when they hear it crack beneath them.”
“Did I go so far as that?”
“Yes; and Sally says, if she was in my place, she 'd send papa to you this morning.”
“And I should be charmed to see him. There are no people whom I prefer to naval men. They have the fresh, vigorous, healthy tone of their own sea life in all they say.”
“Yes; you'd have found him vigorous enough, I promise you.”
“And why did you consult your sister at all?”
“I did not consult her; she got all out of me by cross-questioning. She began by saying, 'That man is a mystery to me; he has not come down here to look after the widow nor Isabella; he's not thinking of politics nor the borough; there 's no one here that he wants or cares for. What can he be at?'”