Page:Alice Lauder.pdf/170
The good lady gazed benevolently over her spectacles at her companion. It certainly had struck Alice for a moment that there was something a little ludicrous in the idea of these two portly old people—one with a bald head and mutton-chop whiskers, the other in a lace cap, and picture-frame sides of hair, discussing the romance of life together—but she saw immediately that this was a wrong point of view. It was they who were in the right; they had tasted the sacramental wine of life; they had travelled together for thirty years, and together they had
Wept, feasted, despaired—been happy.”
She listened gravely therefore, but in all good faith, while Mrs. Granby gradually rolled out her ideas in heavy-syllabled sentences.
. . . .“Thomas is really much concerned about the matter, and it must be something serious when he observes any of our little social interests. But he says it is a matter of common talk all over the place, and even in the clubs—my poor niece, why should she be so attacked?—and Thomas thinks we must take some steps to stop it. He thinks I ought to speak to Lizzie; but it is a difficult matter, and she will not always listen quietly to what I advise. But