The people appeal to me already."
Bessie Fairfax had come up while her old school-fellow was gratifying
Mr. Forbes's ears with her admirable sentiments. She could not forbear a
smile at the candid assertion of power they implied, and as Mr. Forbes
smiled too with a twinkle of amused surprise, Bessie said sportively,
"And if Mr. Chiverton is rebellious and won't take them away, then what
shall you do?"
Mrs. Chiverton was dumb; perhaps this probability had not occurred to
her ruling mind. Mr. Forbes begged to know what Miss Fairfax herself
would do under such circumstances. Bessie considered a minute with her
pretty chin in the air, and then said, "I would not wear my diamonds.
Oh, I would find out a way to bring him to reason!"
A delicate color suffused Mrs. Chiverton's face, and she looked proudly
at Bessie, standing in her bright freedom before her. Bessie caught her
breath; she saw that she had given pain, and was sorry: "You don't care
for my nonsense--you remember me at school," she whispered, and laid her
hand impulsively on the slim folded hands of the young married lady.
"I remember that you found something to laugh at in almost
everything--it is your way," said Mrs. Chiverton coldly, and as her
flush subsided she appeared paler than before. She was so evidently hurt
by something understood or imagined in Bessie's innocent raillery that
Bessie, abashed herself, drew back her hand, and as Mr.
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