Читать книгу Hard-Pan. A Story of Bonanza Fortunes онлайн

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“Oh, dear Tishy,” he said, when his paroxysm was over, taking one of her hands and holding it tightly, “what a sage you are! How good of you to warn me! With you to take care of me, I ought never to come to any harm.”

“I guess you never would,” said Letitia, with a little sigh. “Certainly I know enough to know that that woman is not a good person to trust—or even to know,” added the mentor, with an accent of warning, and staring at him with large, cautioning eyes from under her hat-brim.

Her companion was threatened with another outburst.

“Oh, Letitia, don’t be so funny,” he said. “I haven’t laughed as much as this for a month.”

He took her hand and, drawing it inside his arm, pressed it against his heart; then, looking down at her with eyes still full of laughter, but touched with tenderness, he said:

“To think of Letitia Mason taking the trouble to give me good advice!”

Letitia was mollified, less by his words than by his manner, which had in it that kindly camaraderie which made her feel happy and at ease. She withdrew her hand, laughing, and said, with a sort of shyness that was very charming: