"How old should you imagine me?" he flung the question like a
challenge, as if he had divined my thoughts.
"Oh, say, thirteen, going on fourteen."
"Dear Woman-in-the-Woods, I am thirty-three."
"You are older than I thought."
"You are younger than you think. And you betray the fact," he
smiled.
"I have never been very young; probably I shall never be very old."
"You will always be exactly the right age," said Nicholas Jelnik.
"For you will always be a little girl, and a young maiden, and a
grown woman, and a bit of an old maid, and something of a
grandmother. That is a wonderful, a very, very wonderful
combination!"
I looked at him with more than doubt. But no, he was not poking fun,
though the rich color had come into his cheek, and the golden lights
flickered mischievously in his eyes.
"And I forgot to add, also a business woman!" he finished gaily.
"_Herr Gott_, but it took a business woman to tackle old Hynds House
and gather together such folks as you have there now!"
"Alicia was the head and front of _that_. I merely helped."
"Alicia," said Mr. Jelnik, "is a darling girl. Alicia is everything
a girl ought to be.
Pages:
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198