“If you must have it, I did not think two gay young blades like yourselves very desirable acquaintances for a clergyman’s daughter,” said Mr. Lyon.
“And you were!—oh! oh! oh!” laughed Reding.
“Deuce take it, what do you mean by that, Alick?” inquired Mr. Harpe.
“Nothing against your honor, gentlemen. If my charge for the evening had been any other young lady in the world, I would have presented you to her.”
“Much obliged,” said Reding; “but to tell you the truth, Lyon, whether you like it or not, the young person in question did not impress us as being a young lady.”
“What do you mean by that?” exclaimed Mr. Lyon, in a low, stern voice, as he glared at the speaker.
“Oh, nothing against her honor—nothing in the world. I mean simply that the little creature seemed to us to be, not exactly of ‘low birth,’ but of ‘humble parentage,’ as the phrase goes. She had not the manners of good society,” answered Reding.
“Heaven forbid she ever should have,” said Alexander, firmly. And yet the criticism galled him; all the more, perhaps, because he felt it to be the truth. His lovely young wife had not, as these critics said, the manners of “good society.” Yet it was hard to say what she lacked. Whatever it was, it was something in which Miss Anna Lyon, a very queen in society, excelled. What was it, then? Drusilla was pretty, graceful, well educated, and well-dressed. She excelled in many accomplishments, and was conversant with the history of the past and the literature of the present, and she conversed intelligently upon all these. She was sweet, gentle and courteous in her deportment to all persons. What then did she lack? I will tell you—self-esteem and self-possession—both of which qualities are in high favor in “good society.” Drusilla’s manner was that of one who had always occupied a subordinate position by living among her superiors. She had too little of assurance and too much of deference.
And this delicate and retiring manner, which had been one of her sweetest charms in the eyes of her lover, now suddenly became objectionable in the estimation of her husband.
“No,” he muttered to himself, “she has not the air of a lady; she has the air of a maid-servant. Poor little thing! I fear I shall never be able to introduce her.”