"Nonsense!--begging your pardon, Miss Snowe, but I think you are too partial. I like Polly: I like all her ways and all her looks--but then I am her father; and even I never thought about beauty. She is amusing, fairy-like, interesting to me;--you must be mistaken in supposing her handsome?"
"She attracts, sir: she would attract without the advantages of your wealth and position."
"My wealth and position! Are these any bait to Graham? If I thought so----"
"Dr. Bretton knows these points perfectly, as you may be sure, M. de Bassompierre, and values them as any gentleman would--as you would yourself, under the same circumstances--but they are not his baits. He loves your daughter very much; he feels her finest qualities, and they influence him worthily."
"What! has my little pet 'fine qualities?'"
"Ah, sir! did you observe her that evening when so many men of eminence and learning dined here?"
"I certainly was rather struck and surprised with her manner that day; its womanliness made me smile."
"And did you see those accomplished Frenchmen gather round her in the drawing-room?"
"I did; but I thought it was by way of relaxation--as one might amuse one's self with a pretty infant."
"Sir, she demeaned herself with distinction; and I heard the French gentlemen say she was 'pétrie d'esprit et de graces.' Dr. Bretton thought the same."
"She is a good, dear child, that is certain; and I do believe she has some character. When I think of it, I was once ill; Polly nursed me; they thought I should die; she, I recollect, grew at once stronger and tenderer as I grew worse in health. And as I recovered, what a sunbeam she was in my sick-room! Yes; she played about my chair as noiselessly and as cheerful as light. And now she is sought in marriage! I don't want to part with her," said he, and he groaned.
"You have known Dr. and Mrs. Bretton so long," I suggested, "it would be less like separation to give her to him than to another."
He reflected rather gloomily.
"True. I have long known Louisa Bretton," he murmured. "She and I are indeed old, old friends; a sweet, kind girl she was when she was young. You talk of beauty, Miss Snowe! she was handsome, if you will--tall, straight, and blooming--not the mere child or elf my Polly seems to me: at eighteen, Louisa had a carriage and stature fit for a princess. She is a comely and a good woman now. The lad is like her; I have always thought so, and favoured and wished him well. Now he repays me by this robbery! My little treasure used to love her old father dearly and truly. It is all over now, doubtless--I am an incumbrance."