He spoke rather lower than was his natural key, and welcomed
us warmly, though less effusively than of old. An irreproachable
housemaid, in a spotless cap, ushered us into the transfigured
drawing-room. Mrs. Le Geyt, in a pretty cloth dress, neatly tailor-made,
rose to meet us, beaming the vapid smile of the perfect hostess--that
impartial smile which falls, like the rain from Heaven, on good and
bad indifferently. "SO charmed to see you again, Dr. Cumberledge!" she
bubbled out, with a cheerful air--she was always cheerful, mechanically
cheerful, from a sense of duty. "It IS such a pleasure to meet dear
Hugo's old friends! AND Miss Wade, too; how delightful! You look so
well, Miss Wade! Oh, you're both at St. Nathaniel's now, aren't you?
So you can come together. What a privilege for you, Dr. Cumberledge, to
have such a clever assistant--or, rather, fellow-worker. It must be a
great life, yours, Miss Wade; such a sphere of usefulness! If we can
only feel we are DOING GOOD--that is the main matter. For my own part,
I like to be mixed up with every good work that's going on in my
neighbourhood. I'm the soup-kitchen, you know, and I'm visitor at the
workhouse; and I'm the Dorcas Society, and the Mutual Improvement Class;
and the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and to Children, and I'm sure
I don't know how much else; so that, what with all that, and what with
dear Hugo and the darling children"--she glanced affectionately at
Maisie and Ettie, who sat bolt upright, very mute and still, in their
best and stiffest frocks, on two stools in the corner--"I can hardly
find time for my social duties.
Pages:
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110