From my earliest childhood I cannot remember his ever
putting a limitation upon me that wasn't entirely sensible
and generous. I must have been an extremely trying daughter,
but he never said so; he never looked or acted as if he
thought so.--But I never stop when I begin talking of
my father."
"It's always very sweet to me to hear you talk of him,"
Lady Cressage put in. "One knows so few people who feel
that way about their fathers!"
Celia nodded gravely, as if in benevolent comment upon
something that had been left unsaid. The sight of the
young artist's note recalled her earlier subject.
"Of course there is a certain difference," she went on,
carelessly,--"this Mr. Thorpe is not at all a peasant,
as the phrase goes. He strikes one, sometimes, as having
been educated."
"Oh, he was at a public school, Lord Plowden tells me,"
said the other, with interest. "And his people were
booksellers--somewhere in London--so that he got a good
smattering of literature and all that. He certainly has
more right to set up as a gentleman than nine out of ten
of the nouveaux riches one sees flaunting about nowadays.
And he can talk very well indeed--in a direct, practical sort
of way. I don't quite follow you about his niece and
nephew spoiling him. Of course one can see that they
have had a great effect upon him.
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