But she was
sorry that before either of them had thought of this, some one else
should have done so.
This might prove to be embarrassing, and the only comfort she could give
herself was that La Fleur was such an affectionate old body, always
talking of some bit of good fortune for her, that if she had seen her in
company with a king or an emperor, she would immediately set herself to
find some sort of throne-covering which would suit her hair and
complexion.
The definite result of her reflections, made between desultory questions
and answers, was that she regarded the young gentleman by her side in a
light very different from that in which she had viewed him before she had
met La Fleur in the doctor's hall. It was not that she looked upon him as
a possible lover--she had sense enough to know that almost any man might
be that--he was a hypothetic lover, and in view of the assumption it
behooved her to give careful observation to everything in him, herself,
or others, which might bear upon the ensuing argument.
As for Ralph, it angered him to look at the young lady by his side, who
was as handsome, as well educated and cultured, as tastefully dressed, as
intelligent and witty, of as gentle, kind, and winning a disposition,
and, judging from what the doctor had told him when he first spoke of the
Dranes, of as good blood, family, and position, as any one within the
circle of his acquaintance, and then to remember that she had been called
a working-girl, and spoken of in a manner that was almost contemptuous.
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