"I thought her very
charming!"
"Didn't you think her very reasonable?"
"God forbid, madam! I consider women have no business to be reasonable."
His companion turned upon him, slowly and mildly, and each of her
glasses, in her aspect of reproach, had the glitter of an enormous tear.
"Do you regard us, then, simply as lovely baubles?"
The effect of this question, as coming from Miss Birdseye, and referring
in some degree to her own venerable identity, was such as to move him to
irresistible laughter. But he controlled himself quickly enough to say,
with genuine expression, "I regard you as the dearest thing in life, the
only thing which makes it worth living!"
"Worth living for--you! But for us?" suggested Miss Birdseye.
"It's worth any woman's while to be admired as I admire you. Miss
Tarrant, of whom we were speaking, affected me, as you say, in this
way--that I think more highly still, if possible, of the sex which
produced such a delightful young lady."
"Well, we think everything of her here," said Miss Birdseye. "It seems
as if it were a real gift."
"Does she speak often--is there any chance of my hearing her now?"
"She raises her voice a good deal in the places round--like Framingham
and Billerica.
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