“It was a stupid remark of mine, Master Michael,” she answered. “And I daresay it will make it no better if I say that whatever Mr Bernard has, and is, there are some ways in which I could never feel that he comes up to you.”
“Mrs Shepton, ma’am, you’re a silly old woman. I must be going. If I stay much longer you will be persuading me that my features are the most regular you have ever seen.”
“Nay, nay, my dear. I know what I mean, though I can’t put it in words. ‘All is not gold that glitters,’” she added, sententiously.
The proverb seemed scarcely relevant, but Michael understood the feeling that suggested the quotation, and there was affection as well as amusement in the smile with which he looked back at his old friend, as, followed by Solomon, he left the room.
The elder Mr Gresham had that day been the subject of discussion in another quarter as well. He had been almost from the first very gracious to Evelyn, and this naturally pleased her the more as she gradually came to see that Mr Gresham did not always give himself much trouble about those with whom he might be thrown in contact. The attractiveness of his appearance and the invariable gentleness of his manner had in themselves an undoubted charm, which often made his coldness and indifference the more irritating to those who could not flatter themselves that they had aroused in him the slightest interest in their persons or their conversation.
“I do wish you could see him, Phil,” Evelyn was saying to her sister at the very time that Mr Michael Gresham was paying his visit to Mrs Shepton. “He is really so charming. Felicia and Christine tell me they have never seen him make friends so quickly, and I think they are very pleased at it. Every one thinks so much of his opinion.”
“Then it is no wonder if he is a little spoilt,” said Philippa.
“But I don’t think he is spoilt,” returned Evelyn, eagerly. “He is so gentle and considerate, such a contrast to his cousin—I never saw such a ‘brusque’ man as he is; and if it is affectation, he has no right to be affected! He is so ugly, and of course his position is different in every way.”
“Then it is no wonder if he is a little spoilt,” said Philippa.
“But I don’t think he is spoilt,” returned Evelyn, eagerly. “He is so gentle and considerate, such a contrast to his cousin—I never saw such a ‘brusque’ man as he is; and if it is affectation, he has no right to be affected! He is so ugly, and of course his position is different in every way.”