"
"I was off my guard, and rudish; but you were not. What tact! what
delicacy! what high breeding and angelic benevolence! And so clever,
too!"
"Oh, fie! you listened!"
"You left the door ajar, and I could not bear to lose a word that dropped
from those lips so near me. Yes, I listened, and got such a lesson as
only a noble, gentle lady could give. I shall never forget your womanly
art, and the way you contrived to make the benefaction sound nothing. 'We
are all of us at low water in turns, and for a time, especially me, Zoe
Vizard; so here's a trifling loan.' A loan! you'll never see a shilling
of it again! No matter. What do angels want of money?"
"Oh, pray," said Zoe, "you make me blush!"
"Then I wish there was more light to see it--yes, an angel. Do you think
I can't see you have done all this for a lady you do not really approve?
Fancy--a she doctor!"
"My dear friend," said Zoe, with a little juvenile pomposity, "one ought
not to judge one's intellectual superiors hastily, and this lady is
ours"--then, gliding back to herself, "and it is my nature to approve
what those I love approve--when it is not downright wrong, you know.
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