"
Says the proud mother, "You might tell Lady Bassett you think it is
your mission to reunite your father and Sir Charles."
"Mamma!" said Ruperta, reproachfully. That was to stop her mouth. "If
you tell all the wild things I say to you, her ladyship will think me
very presumptuous."
"No, no," said Lady Bassett, "enthusiasm is not presumption. Enthusiasm
is beautiful, and the brightest flower of youth."
"I am glad you think so, Lady Bassett; for people who have no
enthusiasm seem very hard and mean to me."
"And so they are," said Lady Bassett warmly.
But I have no time to record the full details of the conversation. I
can only present the general result. Lady Bassett thought Ruperta a
beautiful and noble girl, that any house might be proud to adopt; and
Ruperta was charmed by Lady Bassett's exquisite manners, and touched
and interested by her pale yet still beautiful face and eyes. They made
friends; but it was not till the third visit, when many kind things had
passed between them, that Lady Bassett ventured on the subject she had
at heart. "My dear," said she to Ruperta, "when I first saw you, I
wondered at my son Compton's audacity in loving a young lady so much
more advanced than himself; but now I must be frank with you; I think
the poor boy's audacity was only a proper courage.
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