That was enough, and sentence was
passed forthwith,--"Some respectable clerk,
good-looking, but poor, and not at all the thing
for Dora"; and Aunt Pen turned to adjust a
voluminous green veil over her niece's bonnet,
"To shield it from the dust, dear," which process
also shielded the face within from the eye of man.
A curious smile, half mirthful, half melancholy,
passed over their neighbor's lips; but his peace of
mind seemed undisturbed, and he remained buried
in his book Till they reached -----, at dusk. As he
returned it, he offered his services in procuring a
carriage or attending to luggage; but Mrs. Carroll,
with much dignity of aspect, informed him that her
servants would attend to those matters, and, bowing
gravely, he vanished into the night.
As they rolled away to the hotel, Debby was
wild to run down to the beach whence came the
solemn music of the sea, making the twilight
beautiful. But Aunt Pen was too tired to do
anything but sup in her own apartment and go
early to bed; and Debby might as soon have
proposed to walk up the great Pyramid as to make
her first appearance without that sage matron to
mount guard over her; so she resigned herself to
pie and patience, and fell asleep, wishing it were
to-morrow.
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