Dolly thought that was just how so grand a gentleman ought to look;
and, so thinking, she glanced up at him, and with a flash of her
white teeth, smiled her childish approval. The austere old
gentleman, unwontedly softened by that cherub face,--for indeed she
was as winsome as a baby angel of Raphael's,--stooped down and
patted the bright curly head that turned up to him so trustfully.
"What's your name, little woman?" he asked, with a sudden wave of
gentleness.
And Dolly, all agog at having arrested so grand an old gentleman's
attention, spoke up in her clear treble, "Dolores Barton."
Sir Anthony started. Was this a trap to entangle him? He was born
suspicious, and he feared that woman. But he looked into Dolly's
blue eyes of wonder, and all doubt fled from him. Was it blood?
was it instinct? was it unconscious nature? At any rate, the
child seemed to melt the grandfather's heart as if by magic. Long
years after, when the due time came, Dolly remembered that melting.
To the profound amazement of the footman, who stood with the
carriage-door ready open in his hand, the old man bent down and
kissed the child's red lips.
Pages:
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176