"That ought to be a link of sympathy between us, at any rate. Now, I'm going to give you a word of advice. Don't talk of your mother to your grandfather; but you may talk of her to me, when we are alone. She was evidently an unusual woman, and I like people who are not ordinary. It must have been somewhat of an ordeal for you to come here yesterday alone?"
"Oh, it was! I longed to go back to Bristol without seeing my grandfather; but I could not do that because of my promise to mother."
"The Priory ought to be your home. Do you know that though you are only twelve years old, and I am over thirty, you have seen more of life than I have or ever shall?" There was a touch of repine in his tone, and his expression of discontent deepened. "My life has been spent mostly in this sitting-room and the bedroom beyond, so you will not wonder—" He broke off, paused a minute, then added: "You have interested me greatly."
"Have I?" she cried, really surprised, but pleased to hear him say so.
"Yes; and I see so few people who really interest me, except the Vicar—my brother-in-law. He's a good fellow, and I like him, but we do not always hit it off together—my fault, no doubt. Who chose your name for you? My brother?"
"No; I have heard mother say she chose it herself. It means 'happiness' you know."
He smiled assent, then said with a sigh: "No one is happy in this world."
"Oh, yes!" Felicia exclaimed quickly. "I am sure some people are, but some don't know the way—"
"I didn't know happiness could be learnt," he said with a light laugh as she broke off in the midst of her sentence, abashed by the satirical expression of his face. She was very sensitive to ridicule and looked quite confused. "I wish you would teach me the way to be happy, if you know it," he continued in a bantering way; "it's a lesson I unfortunately never learnt."
"Mother used to say that to be happy one must be good and unselfish," Felicia replied in a grave, low voice. "Oh!" she exclaimed with a sudden change of tone, her face breaking into a smile, "did you hear that scrape at the door? It's the dog. May I let him in?"