Bressant had certainly been looking in her direction as she spoke; he
had the opposite place to her at table; but instead of replying, even
with a motion of the head, he, after a moment, turned to Professor
Valeyon, who was gently oscillating himself in the rocking-chair he
always occupied at meals, and asked him whether he knew any thing about
a place in town called "Abbie's Boarding-house."
Cornelia laid down the sugar and tongs, and looked very insulted and
flushed. What sort of a creature was this her papa had brought to his
supper-table? Papa, who had noticed the awkward turn, and was tickled by
the humor thereof, could not forbear to give evidence of amusement,
insomuch that his daughter, who was by no means of a lymphatic
temperament, was almost ready to leave the table, or burst into tears
with injured and astonished dignity.
Bressant, with that exceeding quickness of perception which most persons
with his infirmity possess under such circumstances, transferred his
glance from the professor to the young lady, and at once arrived at a
pretty correct understanding of the difficulty. He was not embarrassed,
for it had probably never occurred to him that his deafness was so much
a defect as a difference of organization, and he lost no time in
explaining matters in his customary way.
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