Chapter Twenty Seven.
Harry’s Visit to Downside.
“And what do you think of my friend Headland? I have not overpraised him, have I?” asked Harry, when he happened to find himself alone with Julia in the garden the morning after the fête.
“You certainly have not overpraised him,” answered Julia, examining some flowers amid which they were walking. “I do not remember that you ever said very much in his favour.”
“Oh, yes, I did, I am sure, for I admire him more than any other fellow I know, and I am sure when I was last at home I constantly told you of the gallant things he had done.”
“That was before I saw him, and I suppose I forgot all about it.”
“Well, I am glad you like him, indeed, I am sure everybody must. But, by-the-bye, Julia, do not fall in love with him, however gallant a fellow he is, or I shall be sorry that I brought him here, though I should never suppose you likely to be guilty of such a weakness. Perhaps I ought to have told you at once that I know, to a certainty, he is not a marrying man. He and I have frequently talked the subject over, and he has assured me that he should never think of taking a wife unless, in the first place, she was charming and lovely, and refined and highly educated, and perfect in every way, indeed, next door to an angel, and would love him entirely for himself. Perhaps also I ought to have told you before that he is a man of no family, or rather he does not know to what family he belongs, as he was separated from them when an infant, and has lost all means by which he can discover who his parents were.”
Harry did not observe the colour which his remarks brought to his sister’s cheeks while they walked on, for she turned her head as if looking at the flowers at her side.