Читать книгу The Primrose Path: A Chapter in the Annals of the Kingdom of Fife онлайн

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“You said just now I was to make a noise.”

“To be sure, so I did. I say one thing one moment, and another the next; but, after all, they are much the same. So you sit by me, you may be quiet or make a noise—it will be all the same. Your noises are quiet, my Peggy. Your sleeve rustling, your hand moving, and a little impatience now and then, a start and a shake of your little head. These are noises an old man likes when Providence has given him a little girl.”

“But really,” said Margaret, with a crease in her forehead, “really! I am grown-up— I am not a little girl!”

“Well, my Peggy! it will be so much the better for you,” he said, patting her sleeve. Margaret was vaguely chilled by this acquiescence, she could scarcely tell why; and the slight pain made her impatient, calling up a little auger, causeless and vague as itself.

“Don’t, papa,” she said. “You are not like yourself. I don’t know what is the matter with you. Then, he may come?”

“Yes, yes, at once,” said Sir Ludovic, with a dreamy smile; then he said, “But who is it?” as if this mattered little. Altogether, Margaret felt he was not like himself.