“She was very kind, father.”
“I imagine that she was not exactly polished?”
“I didn’t expect her to be,” answered Winnie, in so dejected a tone that it would have melted the heart of any one less inflexible than Theodore Spratte.
“But I suppose you didn’t really mind that much, did you? True disinterestedness is such a beautiful thing, and in this world, alas! so rare.”
A sullen, defiant look came into Winnie’s face.
“I mean to marry Bertram in spite of everything, papa.”
“My darling, whoever suggested that you shouldn’t? By the way, do they call him Bertie?”
“Yes, they call him Bertie.”
“I thought they would,” answered the Canon, with the triumphant air of a man who has found some important hypothesis verified by fact. “And Mrs. Railing’s husband I think you said was connected with the sea?”
“He was first mate on a collier.”