"I am very sorry to hear it," continued Mr. Ellsworth; "I have promised to carry Mrs. Creighton to Nahant, about that time, and shall have my usual bad luck in missing you."
{"Nahant" = sea-side resort in Massachusetts, then very popular, just north of Boston}
"We must persuade Mrs. Creighton not to run away," said Mr.
Wyllys.
As Elinor stooped at that moment, to untie the hat of the pretty little creature at her side, it was impossible to say whether this intelligence were displeasing to her or not.
"That is Mrs. Taylor's child, is it not?" observed Mr. Ellsworth, looking at the little girl. "She is very like Mrs. St. Leger."
"Do you really think so?—we fancy her like her mother," said
Elinor.
"How is Tallman Taylor now?—he was not well when they passed through Philadelphia."
"He looks badly still," said Miss Agnes. "He is very imprudent, and distresses Jane very much by his carelessness."
"Gentlemen never seem to do what is right when invalids," observed Mary Van Alstyne, smiling. "They are either very reckless, and indifferent to their health, or else over-careful."
"What do you say, Mr. Ellsworth; is that account true?" asked
Miss Wyllys.