WYLDER'S HAjYD.
45
Rachel, very flushed and agitated still, was now trying
to speak as usual.
"She is good-looking — a little coarse some people
think," resumed the young man; "but handsome; black
eyes — black hair — rather on a large scale, but certainly
handsome. A style I admire rather, though it is not very
refined, nor at all classic. But I like her, and I wish
you'd advise me." He was talking, after his wont, to the
carpet.
"Oh?" she exclaimed, with a gentle sort of derision.
"You mean," he said, looking up for a moment, with a
sudden stare, " she has got money. Of course she has •
I could not afford to admire her if she had not; but I see
you are not just now in a mood to trouble yourself about
my nonsense — we can talk about it to-morrow; and tell
me now, how do you get on with the Brandon peo-
ple?"
Rachel was curious, and would, if she could, have re-
called that sarcastic ''oh" which had postponed the story;
but she was also a little angry, and with anger there was
pride, which would not stoop to ask for the revelation
which he chose to defer; so she said, "Dorcas and I are
very good friends; but I don't know very well what to
make of her. She is either absolutely uninteresting, or
very interesting indeed, and I can't say which."
"Does she like you?" he asked.
"I really don't know. She tolerates me, like every-
thing else; and I don't flatter her; and we see a good deal
of one another upon those terms, and I have no complaint
to make of her. She has some aversions, but no quarrels;
and has a sort of laziness — mental, bodily, and moral —
'-hat is sublime, but provoking; and sometimes I admire
her, and sometimes I despise her; and I do not yet know
which feeling is the juster."