“Very well, then. What shall you wear?”
“You know that being in the second year of my mourning, I am restricted to black and white. I think a black illusion over black silk, with the sleeves and bosom edged with ruches of white illusion; pearl necklace and bracelets, and half open white moss roses in my hair and on my bosom; white kid gloves and a white fan. There, Anna dear, I have given you a complete description of my intended toilet.”
“And nothing could be prettier. Here comes grandpapa!”
And at that moment the old gentleman entered the room.
“Well, my dears, if we are immured in the country at this festive season of the year, we are not likely to be very dull, are we?” smiled the old gentleman, holding out his card.
“No indeed, sir; that we are not! But what do you think of Drusilla here? She was really meditating upon the propriety of giving up all society, and living the life of a recluse,” said Anna, mischievously.
“Well, if such a life is so much to her taste, we have no sort of right to object,” the old man replied, in the same spirit of raillery.
“But it is not to her taste. Drusilla is formed by nature and disposition to enjoy all innocent social pleasures. But she imagined that in her peculiar circumstances it became her duty to retire from the world altogether.”
The veteran turned his clear eyes kindly on his protégée, and taking her hand, said:
“My dear child, when I gave you a daughter’s place in my heart and home, and took a father’s position towards you, I became responsible for the safety of your fair fame as well as for your person. Both are perfectly secure under my protection. No one will venture to assail the one more than the other. Go wherever Anna goes, enjoy all that she enjoys. It is even well that you should have the harmless recreations natural to your youth, and that she should have a companion of her own sex. And I shall always be your escort.”