That alone is a great delight."
"And, by the way, that lady never told us whether she was American, or
not, did she?"
"Sure enough! Well, we may never see her again, so what does it
matter? I hope we will, though, for I liked her."
"And so did I," was Hope's emphatic rejoinder.
Captain Hosmer opened the cab door for them himself, and gave them the
gaze of wondering approval which he reserved for these fair daughters.
To him their growth, development, and beauty seemed something magical,
incomprehensible. He had left them in the lank, homely, tooth-shedding
period, at the time he placed them in school, and when he returned to
see them graduated, here were two blooming maidens on the very
borderland of charming womanhood. The usual love and pride of a father
was in him a rapture made up of the love given to his very own, and
also of the admiration that a man, little thrown among women, is apt to
feel for those of his fireside. Then, too, these were the relics of a
wife most fondly cherished, and he constantly saw in them traits and
expressions which brought her to mind, and filled his heart with
tenderness.
They, in turn, fairly adored the tall, brawny man, whose whole bearing
bespoke self-restraint, and the calm exercise of authority, and if his
attitude towards them was both chivalrous and tender, theirs to him was
fondly admiring and respectful.
"I've been waiting for you ten minutes," he said, flinging his cigar
away.
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