It would cost him nothing to take us for a drive, for the
carriage is his mother's, but you couldn't hire him to go round that
park with us; he has that false pride, more common in women than in men,
which would keep him from it. He likes you very much--at Stoneleigh,
where there are none of his set to look on; but here in London it is
different. He might take us to many places, if he would; but he dares
not, lest he should be seen. He can send you a blue silk dress, which I
half wish you had returned; and he can come here and make your pulse
beat faster with his soft words and manner, which mean so little; but
other attentions we must not expect from him. I tell you this, my child,
because you are getting to be a woman. You were fifteen last March. You
are very beautiful, and Neil McPherson knows it, and if you had a
fortune he might seek to be more than your cousin; but as it is, don't
attach much importance to what he says and does, or be disappointed at
what he does not do."
Bessie did not reply for the great lump which had risen in her throat as
her father put into words what in part she had suspected, but tried to
fight down.
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