Page:Diary of a Pilgrimage (1891).pdf/238

 and I was reading in the breakfast-parlour, and Emily was sitting on the sofa, looking at an album of Swiss views with Dick Chetwyn. Dick and Emily are engaged. Dick is a steady young fellow, and Emily loves him dearly, I am sure; but they both suffer, in my opinion, from an over-sense of modesty. As for Emily, it does not so much matter: girls are like that before they are married. But in Dick it seems out of place. They both of them flare up quite scarlet at the simplest joke even. They always make me think of Gilbert's bashful young couple.

Well, there we were, sitting round, the child on the floor, playing with her bricks. She had been very quiet for about five minutes, and I was just wondering what could be the matter with her, when, all of a sudden, and without a word of warning, she observed, in the most casual tone of voice, while continuing her building operations: