“And they make such a handsome pair.”
Thickens nodded and frowned, but became placid the next moment as his hostess said softly:
“That sweet child!”
“Hah! Yes! Bless her!—Hah! Yes! Bless her!—Hah! Yes! Bless her!”
Miss Heathery stared, for her guest fired these ejaculations and benedictions at intervals in a quick, eager way, smiling the while, and with his eyes brightening.
She stared more the next minute, and trembled as she heard her visitor’s next utterance, and thought of a visit of his seven years ago when she was out, and which he had explained by saying that he had come to ask her if she would like a pair of gold-fish, that was all.
For all at once Mr Thickens exclaimed with his eyes glittering:
“If I had married I should have liked to have had a little girl like that.”
There was a terrible pause here, terrible to only one though: and then, in a hesitating voice, Miss Heathery went on, with that word “marriage” buzzing in her ears, and making her feel giddy.
“Do you—do you think it’s true, Mr Thickens?”