"There it is, in white and black!" said Elinor. "Just remember Goldsmith, strutting about Temple Gardens, in his blush-coloured satin, and fancying everybody in love with him, too!"
{"Goldsmith" = Oliver Goldsmith (1730-1775), British author;
"Temple Gardens" = in London on the Thames River, next to The
Temple (an ancient English school of law)}
"Quarter! quarter! Nelly," cried her grandfather, laughing.
"True, I must confess," said Harry, smiling; "but that was more than fifty years ago. The world has grown wiser, now."
"Has it?"
"Look at our sober coats, to-day—the last Paris fashions, too!"
"Yes—but what is the reason?" cried Elinor, laughing herself. "You have just found out that finery, and a showy exterior, are of no use to you—they do not increase your influence with the ladies! We do not value a man more for a showy exterior!"
"I submit," said Harry; but he coloured, and seemed to Miss Agnes, more embarrassed by Elinor's remark than was necessary. He threw down his book, however, and crossed the room to take a place near her.
"What are you going to do this morning?" he said, quietly.
A walk was proposed, and soon after the young people, accompanied by Bruno, set out together.