"
"You wouldn't know whether any one had a tooth in their head, I
believe."
"No one except you, my dear; and I know all yours by heart."
"You are a goose."
"And a very sleepy one; so, if you please, I'll go to roost."
And thus there was nothing more said about Lucy's beauty on that
occasion.
For the first two days Mrs. Robarts did not make much of her
sister-in-law. Lucy, indeed, was not demonstrative: and she was,
moreover, one of those few persons--for they are very few--who are
contented to go on with their existence without making themselves the
centre of any special outward circle. To the ordinary run of minds
it is impossible not to do this. A man's own dinner is to himself
so important that he cannot bring himself to believe that it is a
matter utterly indifferent to every one else. A lady's collection of
baby-clothes, in early years, and of house linen and curtain-fringes
in later life, is so very interesting to her own eyes, that she
cannot believe but what other people will rejoice to behold it. I
would not, however, be held as regarding this tendency as evil. It
leads to conversation of some sort among people, and perhaps to a
kind of sympathy. Mrs. Jones will look at Mrs. White's linen chest,
hoping that Mrs.
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