Page:Tales of Three Cities (Boston, James R. Osgood & Co., 1884).djvu/304

292 Miss Daintry gave another of her loud laughs at the idea that she might remain alone "on purpose." "I shall have a visitor, but it will be some one who will not amuse Florimond in the least. If he wants to go away, it won't be for anything in this house that he will stay."

"I really don't see why you should hate him." said poor Mrs. Daintry.

"Where do you find that? On the contrary, I appreciate him very highly. That 's just why I think it very possible that a girl like Rachel Torrance—an odd, uninstructed girl, who has n't had great advantages—may fall in love with him and break her heart."

Mrs. Daintry's clear eyes expanded. "Is that what you are afraid of?"

"Do you suppose my solicitude is for Florimond? An accident of that sort—if she were to show him her heels at the end—might perhaps do him good. But I am thinking of the girl, since you say you don't want him to marry her."

"It was not for that that I suggested what I did. I don't want him to marry any one—I have no plans for that," Mrs. Daintry said, as if she were resenting an imputation.

"Rachel Torrance least of all!" and Miss Daintry indulged still again in that hilarity, so personal to herself, which sometimes made the subject look so little jocular to others. "My dear Susan, I don't blame you," she said; "for I suppose mothers are