She bears a charmed hand, I think,
or she would not be so successful."
He had lost money by her then, and Bessie at once found herself thinking
that if she only knew how much, and who he was, she would pay it back
pound for pound when she made a fortune.
In a vague kind of way she entertained a belief that somewhere in the
world there was a fortune awaiting her; that little girl of fifteen
summers, who sat there in Hyde Park, in her old washed linen dress and
faded ribbons, with such a keen sense of pain in her heart for the
mother who bore her, and pity for herself and her father. The latter had
paid but little intention to what she was saying to her companion, for
when he was not engrossed in the passers-by he had been half asleep, but
when he caught the names _rouge et noir_ and cards, he roused up and
said:
"Sir, my daughter has never played for money in her life, and never
will."
"I am sure she will not," the stranger rejoined, "though many highly
respectable ladies do;" then, as if he wished to chance the subject, he
turned to Bessie and said: "If Neil McPherson is your cousin there ought
to be some relationship between you and me, for he is my cousin, too.
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