As the old man was speaking, his face was suffused with a glow of strong feeling; the young woman’s lip quivered, her eye glistened, and she left the room where they were sitting. As she opened the door by which she made her retreat, Markham, whose curiosity had been strongly excited by all the appearances in the cottage, caught a glimpse of a second or inner apartment, apparently fitted up with very great neatness. Of its extent he could form no idea, but its ornaments were of the same nature as those in the room in which he was sitting. Old Mr. Martindale now felt his curiosity roused; he said:
“I am quite curious to know the history of this young woman. Is she really your niece?”
“She is really my niece,” said the old man, “so far as that her mother was my sister’s child.”
“Are these drawings done by your niece too? You seem to have given her a very good education.”
“These drawings,” replied the old man, “are not hers; and as for her education, such as it is, she received it before she was placed under my care.”
“Are her father and mother living?” continued Mr. Martindale; “but I suppose not, by her being placed, as you say, under your sole protection.”
This last part of the sentence was uttered at an interval after the first; for no immediate answer was returned to the interrogation concerning her father and mother. Indeed, the poor man did not seem very willing to enter into any very particular explanation upon the subject; and Mr. Martindale himself, though he had expressed a curiosity to know the history of the young woman, was not so very curious as to persevere in putting a multitude of questions.
There are some persons whose curiosity gains strength by opposition, and others who will not condescend to be at the expense of any great number of questions. Mr. Martindale was of this latter class. Indeed, had he received ever so much intelligence, it would have been of little use, for he would soon have forgotten it. There was another person present whose curiosity had been much more strongly excited. Horatio Markham felt himself fully convinced that the young woman was not a daughter of a cottager: he could, as he fancied, see clearly enough, by her manner and expression, that she was of much superior rank. It was very ridiculous for a young barrister, who had scarcely seen any society at all, who had been born and brought up in a country town, and of a humble family, or, more properly speaking, of no family at all, and who had spent most of his time in study;—it was very ridiculous for him to affect to decide what manners designated or manifested superior breeding. It is a species of vanity, however, in which Markham is by no means singular.
Mr. Martindale having given the old man an assurance of his protection, and having now no more questions to ask, rose and took his leave, accompanied by his young friend.