"She needs no praise from me, Lawrence," replied Hudson, speaking with gravity. "I have always looked upon her as the pride of her sex."
"Well, but gravely said. You are as phlegmatic as a Greenlander. I think she will grace any circle into which she may be thrown: don't you?"
"I certainly do."
"Of course, I mean to rise in the world far above my present position. That, you know, I have settled long ago; and my wife must be one who can rise with me. It would not do to have a wife who felt more at home in the kitchen than in the parlor, or who would not be a fit associate for ladies of any rank. I am much mistaken in Mary if she will not grace any circle into which I may be able to introduce her."
There was a something in the way this was uttered by Dunbar that caused an indignant emotion to rise in the breast of Hudson. He did not make a reply, and his friend went on.
"Of course, I must look to this. No matter how much I might have loved Mary, if I had perceived in her anything that led me to doubt her being able to support the dignity and character of a refined lady, I would have passed her aside."
"You are quite cool about the matter," remarked Hudson, with a slight manifestation of disturbance in his voice. He felt impatient, and could not entirely control himself.
"A cool head and a warm heart: that is my motto."
"Parrot!" was the indignant, though mental ejaculation of Hudson.
"Your head is cool, certainly," he said aloud.