I don't wonder she turned the heads of lords and dukes on the
other side of the water. But what _do_ you call her little for?"
"I hardly know, Art; with me it's a term of endearment more than anything
else, I believe," replied his sister; "but there is something in the
expression of her face--something that has always been there, a sweet
simplicity and innocence--that moves one to a sort of protecting love as
to a little one who has not yet attained sufficient worldly wisdom to take
care of herself."
Old Mr. Dinsmore greeted his lovely granddaughter almost affectionately,
holding her hand in his for a moment, and looking from her to her father.
"Really, she's a girl to be proud of, Horace," he said with a paternal
smile. "But I've no need to tell you that."
"No, she is not bad looking," observed his wife with a slight sneer; "few
girls would be in such elegant attire; but it surprises me to see that,
with all her advantages and opportunities for improvement, she has not yet
lost that baby expression she always had. She'll never be half the woman
Enna is."
The days were past in which the lady mother had gloried in the fact that
anywhere Enna would have been taken for the elder of the two; and now the
contrast between her faded, fretful face and Elsie's fresh bloom was a
sore trial to madam's love, and pride in her household pet.
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