Algernon evidently possessed the valuable gift of discernment of character which some can alone gain by long experience.
The family party were separating one morning after breakfast, when, the front door standing open on that warm summer day, Harry, as he passed through the hall, caught sight of Dame Halliburt approaching with her basket of fish, accompanied by the blue-eyed little girl he had seen when landing from the Nancy.
“Come here, Julia,” he exclaimed. “Does not that sturdy fishwife with her little daughter trotting along by her side present a pretty picture? I wish an artist were here to take them as we see them now.”
“Yes, Gainsborough would do them justice. He delights in rustic figures, though the child should have bare feet, and I see she has shoes and stockings on,” answered Julia.
“The little girl would, at all events, make a sweet picture in her red cloak and hat,” observed Miss Pemberton, who with her sister as they crossed the hall had heard Harry’s exclamation, and had come to the door; and she described her to Miss Mary.
“I should like to speak to her. I can always best judge of people when I hear their voices,” observed Miss Mary.
Harry proposed asking Dame Halliburt and the little girl to come up to the porch, but they had by this time passed on towards the back entrance.
“The dame is probably in a hurry to sell her fish and to go on her way,” observed Miss Pemberton. “We will talk to her another time.”
“Come, Harry, madame is ready to give you your French lesson,” said Julia, and they went into the house.
Before luncheon Madame De La Motte proposed taking a walk.