"I could not have recommended you to a better person," he
added presently, evidently putting a restraint upon himself. "I have the
highest--I hold her in very high estimation, sir."
Bressant nodded, and presently took some more of the beef.
"Have you seen Abbie yet, Mr. Bressant?" inquired Cornelia in a timid
tone, which, however, was deprived of all melody by the effort to suit
it to the young man's ears. But it was necessary to say something.
"Oh, no!" he replied, smiling at her in the pure good-nature of physical
complacency, and noticing for the first time that she was an agreeable
spectacle. He judged absolutely and primitively, never having had that
experience of women which might have enabled him to make comparison the
base of his opinion. "I came right up here from the depot. My trunk was
sent to the boarding-house; it will hire a room for me, I suppose."
At this sally, Cornelia smiled very graciously, though ten minutes
before she would have snubbed it promptly. She had had some experience
with the young men of the village--easy victims--and had acquired a
rather good opinion of her satirical powers. But Bressant was a peculiar
case; his deafness enlisted her compassion and forbearance, and her own
late rudeness made her gentle.
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