Volume I Part 44 (1/2)
The doctor looked up comically at his niece and her husband, who were both sitting or standing close by.
” 'Sep. 10. Paolo e Virginia' ? in what language?”
”Italian, Sir; I was just beginning, and I haven't finished it yet.”
” 'Sep. 16. Milner's Church History!' ?What the deuce! ? 'Vol.
2. Fairy Queen.' ? Why, this must have been a favourite book, too.”
”That's one of the books Fleda loves best,” said Hugh; ? ”she went through that very fast.”
”Over it, you mean, I reckon; how much did you skip, Fleda?”
”I didn't skip at all,” said Fleda; ”I read every word of it.”
” ' Sep. 20. 2 Mem. de Sully.' Well, you're an industrious mouse, I'll say that for you. What's this? ? 'Don Quixote!' ?
'Life of Howard.' ? 'Nov. 17. 3 Fairy Queen.' ? 'Nov. 29. 4 Fairy Queen.' ? 'Dec. 8. 1 Goldsmith's England.' ? Well, if this list of books is a fair exhibit of your taste and capacity, you have a most happily proportioned set of intellectuals. Let us see ? history, fun, facts, nature, theology, poetry and divinity! ? upon my soul! ? and poetry and history the leading features! ? a little fun ? as much as you could lay your hand on, I'll warrant, by that pinch in the corner of your eye. And here, the eleventh of December, you finished the Fairy Queen; and ever since, I suppose, you have been imagining yourself the 'faire Una,' with Hugh standing for Prince Arthur or the Red-cross Knight ? haven't you?”
”No, Sir. I didn't imagine anything about it.”
”Don't tell me. What did you read it for?”
”Only because I liked it, Sir. I liked it better than any other book I read last year.”
”You did! Well, the year ends, I see, with another volume of Sully. I wont enter upon this year's list. Pray, how much of all these volumes do you suppose you remember? I'll try and find out next time I come to see you. I can give a guess, if you study with that little pug in your lap.”
”He is not a pug!” said Fleda, in whose arms King was lying luxuriously ? ”and he never gets into my lap, besides.”
”Don't he! Why not?”
”Because I don't like it, Sir. I don't like to see dogs in laps.”
”But all the ladies in the land do it, you little Saxon! it is universally considered a mark of distinction.”
”I can't help what all the ladies in the land do,” said Fleda.
”That wont alter my liking; and I don't think a lady's lap is a place for a dog.”
”I wish you were my daughter!' said the old doctor, shaking his head at her with a comic fierce expression of countenance, which Fleda perfectly understood and laughed at accordingly.
Then as the two children with the dog went off into the other room, he said, turning to his niece and Mr. Rossitur ?
”If that girl ever takes a wrong turn with the bit in her teeth, you'll be puzzled to hold her. What stuff will you make the reins of?”
”I don't think she ever will take a wrong turn,” said Mr.
Rossitur.
”A look is enough to manage her, if she did,” said his wife. ”
Hugh is not more gentle.”
”I should be inclined rather to fear her not having stability of character enough,” said Mr. Rossitur. ”She is so very meek and yielding, I almost doubt whether anything would give her courage to take ground of her own, and keep it.”