Eve bowed her assent, determined not to take to herself a visit that did
violence to all her habits and notions of propriety. But Mr. Dodge was too
obtuse to feel the hint conveyed in mere reserve of manner.
"It would have been more agreeable, I allow, had not this man-of-war taken
it into her head to follow us in this unprecedented manner." Mr. Dodge was
as fond of his dictionary as the steward, though he belonged to the
political, while Saunders merely adorned the polite school of talkers.
"Sir George calls it a most 'uncomfortable pro endure.' You know Sir
George Templemore, without doubt, Miss Effingham?"
"I am aware there is a person of that name on board, sir," returned Eve,
who recoiled from this familiarity with the sensitiveness with which a
well-educated female distinguishes between one who appreciates her
character and one who does not; "but have never had the honour of his
acquaintance."
Mr. Dodge thought all this extraordinary, for he had witnessed Captain
Truck's introduction, and did not understand how people who had sailed
twenty-four hours in the same ship, and had been fairly introduced, should
not be intimate. As for himself, he fancied he was, what he termed, "well
acquainted" with the Effinghams, from having talked of them a great deal
ignorantly, and not a little maliciously; a liberty he felt himself fully
entitled to take from the circumstance of residing in the same county,
although he had never spoken to one of the family, until accident placed
him in their company on board the same vessel.
Pages:
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148