"Mr. Gore talks about interesting things?" he observed tentatively.
"What people call 'interesting things' are sometimes very tedious," she answered smartly, intending to please him.
He was a little pleased, but not diverted from his purpose. He never was diverted from his purposes.
"He is a different sort of person from any Mariquita has known," he remarked; "conversation like his must interest her."
"Only, she does not converse with him."
"But she hears."
"Oh! Mariquita hears everything."
"You don't think she finds him tedious?"
"Oh, no! She does not know anyone is tedious." It by no means struck her father that this was a fault in her.
"It is better to be content with one's company," he said. Then, "He does not find her tedious, I think, though she speaks little."