"I'm sure there never was such a kind, dear, generous man as you are,
Mr. Gibson," said his wife. "To think of your being a stepfather!
and so good to my poor fatherless girl! But, Molly my dear, I
think you'll acknowledge that you too are very fortunate in your
stepmother. Are not you, love? And what happy _tête-à-têtes_ we shall
have together when Cynthia goes to London! I'm not sure if I don't
get on better with you even than with her, though she is my own
child; for, as dear papa says so truly, there is a love of mystery
about her; and if I hate anything, it is the slightest concealment
or reserve. Ten pounds! Why, it will quite set her up, buy her a
couple of gowns and a new bonnet, and I don't know what all! Dear Mr.
Gibson, how generous you are!"
Something very like "Pshaw!" was growled out from behind the
newspaper.
"May I go and tell her?" said Molly, rising up.
"Yes, do, love. Tell her it would be so ungrateful to refuse; and
tell her that your father wishes her to go; and tell her, too, that
it would be quite wrong not to avail herself of an opening which may
by-and-by be extended to the rest of the family. I am sure if they
ask me--which certainly they ought to do--I won't say before they
asked Cynthia, because I never think of myself, and am really the
most forgiving person in the world, in forgiving slights;--but when
they do ask me, which they are sure to do, I shall never be content
till, by putting in a little hint here and a little hint there, I've
induced them to send you an invitation. A month or two in London
would do you so much good, Molly."
Molly had left the room before this speech was ended, and Mr. Gibson
was occupied with his newspaper; but Mrs. Gibson finished it to
herself very much to her own satisfaction; for, after all, it was
better to have some one of the family going on the visit, though she
might not be the right person, than to refuse it altogether, and
never to have the opportunity of saying anything about it. As Mr.
Gibson was so kind to Cynthia, she too would be kind to Molly, and
dress her becomingly, and invite young men to the house; do all
the things, in fact, which Molly and her father did not want to
have done, and throw the old stumbling-blocks in the way of their
unrestrained intercourse, which was the one thing they desired to
have, free and open, and without the constant dread of her jealousy.