Margaret Capel: A Novel, vol. 1 of 3Wallace, Ellen
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Margaret Capel: A Novel, vol. 1 of 3
Wallace, Ellen
English fiction -- 19th century
"Oh! most about Etruria. I wish Miss Gage had told me some more curious
things. I think she knows more about it than Mr. Warde. He told me if he
met with some things in Livy, he would mark them and read them to me; I
wish he would. Look, Sir, I cannot think how this stain came on my
glove. Oh! I recollect: I was gathering myrtle in the green-house just
before I went."
"What a little bit of a hand it is," said Mr. Grey, "are you sleepy, my
child?"
"A little, Sir. Mr. Warde said he would teach me Latin, if I wished to
learn it, but I think I had better leave it alone till I know more of
other things."
"Oh, my child! don't learn Latin whatever you do," said Mr. Grey, "it
really will--quite wrinkle her, won't it, Claude?"
Mr. Haveloc gave a short laugh, and Margaret recollected that he was in
the room, and grew uncomfortable again.
"Elizabeth never plays in company, do you know," said she, after a short
pause, "Is not that odd? Oh dear, Sir, what a dreadful thing it is to
have only one arm!"
"Why, my child, Elizabeth Gage has--oh true! she is thinking of the
father--yes, very awkward indeed!"
"Well, I shall wish you good night, uncle, I am quite tired," said
Margaret, and stooping her head a very little as she passed Mr. Haveloc,
who held open the door for her, she went up-stairs without having the
slightest idea of his personal appearance, for she had never once raised
her eyes to his face. She merely thought, as her maid brushed out her
luxuriant hair, that Mr. Hubert Gage had taken a great deal more notice
of her, and was a much more agreeable person.
CHAPTER V.
Oh! how much more doth beauty beauteous seem,
By that sweet ornament which truth doth give!
The rose looks fair, but fairer we it deem
For that sweet odour which doth in it live.
SHAKESPEARE.
The next morning when Margaret came down to breakfast, she enjoyed in
perfection all the feelings which shyness produces in very young people.
She hoped that Mr. Haveloc would not be in the library, and that he
would not speak to her if he was there; and she tried to recollect what
people always tell very shy girls, that she was not of sufficient
importance to be taken notice of. This, by the way, is not exactly the
means best adapted to the end in view; a sense of insignificance is a
very material cause of shyness, and to strengthen this idea is one way
to confirm a person in shyness for the rest of their lives.
Her colour mounted as she opened the door, and she was not a little
relieved to find the library vacant.
While she was employed in making the breakfast, she saw Mr. Haveloc pass
the window apparently in deep thought. He was accompanied by a couple of
beautiful dogs, a spaniel and a setter. But he paid no attention to
their movements, except by sometimes passing his hand over their silken
heads in return for their caresses.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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