He has made a
study of it."
"If I thought I was not presuming too far on Mr. Dodd's good nature, I
would send one or two of them."
"Do; and I will make him draw up a paper of the contents; I have seen
him at this sort of work before now. But there, la! I suppose you know
it is all vanity."
"I do it to please my poor uncle."
"And very good you are. But what the better will the poor old
gentleman be? We are here to act our own part well; we can't ride up
to heaven on our great-grandfather."
These maxims were somewhat coldly received, so Eve shifted her ground.
"After all, I don't know why I should be the one to say that, for my
own name is older than your uncle's a pretty deal."
Lucy looked puzzled; then suddenly fancying she had caught Eve's
meaning, she said: "That is true. Hail mother of mankind!!" and bowed
her head with graceful reverence.
Eve stared and colored, not knowing what on earth her companion meant.
I am afraid it must be owned that Eve steadily eschewed books and
always had. What little book-learning she had came to her filtered
through David, and by this channel she accepted it willingly, even
sought it at odd times, when there was no bread, pudding, dress,
theology, scandal, or fun going on. She turned it off by a sudden
inquiry where Mr. Fountain was; "they told me in the village he was
away." Now several circumstances combined to make Lucy more
communicative than usual. First, she had been studying hard; and,
after long study, when a lively person comes to us, it is a great
incitement to talk.
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