'I have no history, ma'am, to give, for my father's retired life——'
'O, I have seen your father, and I have heard him preach, and I like him very much. There's something in him there's no turning into ridicule.'
Camilla, though surprised, was delighted by such a testimony to the respectability of her father; and, with more courage, said—'And, I am sure, if you knew my mother, you would allow her the same exemption.'
'So I hear; therefore, we won't talk of them. It's a delightful thing to think of perfection; but it's vastly more amusing to talk of errors and absurdities. To begin with your eldest sister, then—but no; she seems in just the same predicament as your father and mother: so we'll let her rest, too.'
'Indeed she is; she is as faultless——'
'O, not a word more then; she won't do for me at all. But, pray, is there not a single soul in all the round of your large family, that can afford a body a little innocent diversion?'
'Ah, madam,' said Camilla, shaking her head; 'I fear, on the contrary, if they came under your examination, there is not one in whom you would not discern some foible!'
'I should not like them at all the worse for that; for, between ourselves, my dear Miss Tyrold, I am half afraid they might find a foible or two in return in me; so you must not be angry if I beg the favour of you to indulge me with a few of their defects.'
'Indulge you!'
'Yes, for when so many of a family are perfect, if you can't find me one or two that have a little speck of mortality, you must not wonder if I take flight at your very name. In charity, therefore, if you would not drop my acquaintance, tell me their vulnerable parts.'