He could neither aspire so high nor
descend so low; and thinking of this he spoke to Miss Dunstable as
though there were some great distance between them,--as though there
had been no hours of intimate friendship down at Greshamsbury. There
had been such hours, during which Miss Dunstable and Dr. Thorne had
lived as though they belonged to the same world: and this at any rate
may be said of Miss Dunstable, that she had no idea of forgetting
them.
Dr. Thorne merely gave her his hand, and then prepared to pass on.
"Don't go, doctor," she said; "for heaven's sake, don't go yet. I
don't know when I may catch you if you get in there. I shan't be able
to follow you for the next two hours. Lady Meredith, I am so much
obliged to you for coming--your mother will be here, I hope. Oh, I am
so glad! From her you know that is quite a favour. You, Sir George,
are half a sinner yourself, so I don't think so much about it."
"Oh, quite so," said Sir George; "perhaps rather the largest half."
"The men divide the world into gods and giants," said Miss Dunstable.
"We women have our divisions also. We are saints or sinners according
to our party. The worst of it is, that we rat almost as often as you
do." Whereupon Sir George laughed and passed on.
Pages:
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507
508
509
510
511
512
513
514
515
516