"He's stopped here--speaking to somebody--father, I believe; he's
coming in--there! do you hear?" cried Cornelia, turning round with large
eyes and her finger at her mouth, and speaking in a thrilling whisper.
The sound of the quick, irregular tread of Mr. Bressant, following the
professor into the study, was audible from below.
"Who can he be?" resumed she presently, as Sophie said nothing.
"If he's a gentleman, we don't need to know any more, do we?" replied
her sister, from behind her sewing.
"Well, he is one," rejoined Cornelia, uncertain whether she was being
made fun of or not. "He was dressed like one; not bandboxy, you know,
but nicely and easily; and he stands and moves well; and then his
face--"
"Is he handsome?" asked Sophie, as Cornelia paused.
"Oh! he has that refined look--I can't describe it--better than
handsome," said she, giving a little wave with her hand to carry out her
meaning.
"It's lucky he was so big," remarked Sophie, very innocently, "or you
might not have been able to see so much of him in such a little time."
"Sophie!" said Cornelia, after a silence of some moments, speaking with
tragic deliberation, "you're making fun of me; I think you're very
unkind. I don't see what there is to laugh at in what I said; and if
there was any thing, I think you might not laugh."
"O Neelie--dear Neelie!" exclaimed Sophie, coloring with regret and
shame; "I didn't think you'd mind it; it was only my foolishness. Don't
think I meant to be unkind to you, dear. I wish the man had never come
here, whoever he is, if he is to come between us in any way. Won't you
forgive me, darling?" and she held out her hand to Cornelia with a
wistful, beseeching look in her eyes that thawed her sister's resentment
immediately, and after a very brief struggle to preserve her dignity,
she subsided with her face upon the pillow beside her sister's.
"We won't ever quarrel or any thing again, will we, Sophie?" said she,
after a while.
"Never about that gentleman, at all events!" answered Sophie; and then
they both laughed and kissed each other to seal the bargain.
Once, long afterward, Cornelia remembered that kiss, and the words that
had accompanied it; and pondered over the bitter significance with which
the simple act and playful agreement had become fraught.
But now, the subject was soon forgotten, and they fell to talking about
the dresses once more; nor was the topic by any means exhausted when
they were interrupted by the professor's voice calling to them from
below.