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201 THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY. 201 frankly. "But I know no particular reason why my child should be short." The nun gave a temperate shrug, as if to intimate that such things might be beyond our knowledge. " She is in very good health ; that is the best thing." "Yes, she looks well." And the young girl's father watched her a moment. "What do you see in the garden 1 ?" he asked, in French. " I see many flowers," she replied, in a sweet, small voice, and with a French accent as good as his own. " Yes, but not many good ones. However, such as they are, go out and gather some for ces dames." The child turned to him, with her smile brightened by pleasure. " May I, truly 1 " she asked. " Ah, when I tell you," said her father. The girl glanced at the elder of the nuns. " May I, truly, ma mere ? " "Obey monsieur your father, my child," said the sister, blushing again. The child, satisfied with this authorisation, descended from the threshold, and was presently lost to sight. " You don't spoil them," said her father, smiling. " For everything they must ask leave. That is our system. Leave is freely granted, but they must ask it." " Oh, I don't quarrel with your system ; I have no doubt it is a very good one. I sent you my daughter to see what you would make of her. I had faith." " One must have faith," the sister blandly rejoined, gazing through her spectacles. " Well, has my faith been rewarded 1 What have you made of her ? " The sister dropped her eyes a moment. " A good Christian, monsieur." Her host dropped his eyes as well ; but it was probable that the movement had in each case a different spring. " Yes," he said in a moment, " and what else 1 " He watched the lady from the convent, probably thinking that she would say that a good Christian was everything. But for all her simplicity, she was not so crude as that. " A charming young lady a real little woman a daughter in whom you will have nothing but contentment." " She seems to me very nice," said the father. " She is very pretty." " She is perfect. She has no faults."