"
Eager, excited, delighted, Belding went on talking as he ushered
the Gales into the sitting-room, presenting them in his hearty way
to the astounded Mrs. Belding and Nell. For the space of a few
moments his wife and daughter were bewildered. Belding did
not recollect any other occasion when a few callers had thrown
them off their balance. But of course this was different. He was
a little flustered himself--a circumstance that dawned upon him
with surprise. When the Gales had been shown to rooms, Mrs.
Belding gained the poise momentarily lost; but Nell came rushing
back, wilder than a deer, in a state of excitement strange even
for her.
"Oh! Dick's mother, his sister!" whispered Nell.
Belding observed the omission of the father in Nell's exclamation
of mingled delight and alarm.
"His mother!" went on Nell. "Oh, I knew it! I always guessed it!
Dick's people are proud, rich; they're somebody. I thought I'd
faint when she looked at me. She was just curious--curious,
but so cold and proud. She was wondering about me. I'm wearing
his ring. It was his mother's, he said. I won't--I can't take it
off. And I'm scared....But the sister--oh, she's lovely and sweet
--proud, too. I felt warm all over when she looked at me. I--I
wanted to kiss her. She looks like Dick when he first came to
us. But he's changed. They'll hardly recognize him....To think
they've come! And I had to be looking a fright, when of all times
on earth I'd want to look my best.
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