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Love Me Little Love Me Long (Large Print Edition)
Love Me Little Love Me Long - Large Print Edition Author:Charles Reade Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER V. Mr. Fountain sat at breakfast opposite his niece with a twinkle set in his eye like a cherry-clack in a tree, relishing beforehand her smiles, and ... more »blushes, and gratitude to him for having hooked and played his friend, so that now she had but to land him. " I'll just finish this delicious cup of coffee," thought he, "and then I'll tell you, my lady." "While he was slowly sipping said cup, Lucy looked up and said graciously to him, " How silly Mr. Talboys was last night—was he not, dear?" " Talboys ? silly ? what 1 do you know ? Why, what on earth do you mean?" " Silly is a harsh word—injudicious then—praising me a tort et a travers, and was downright ill bred—was discourteous to another of our guests, Mr. Dodd." " Confound Mr. Dodd! I wish I had never invited him." "So do I. If you remember, I dissuaded you." " I do remember now. What! you don't like him either?" " There you are mistaken, dear. I esteem Mr. Dodd highly, and Miss Dodd too, in spite of her manifest defects ; but in making up parties, however small, we should choose our guests with reference to each other, not merely to ourselves. Now forgive me, it was clear beforehand that Mr. Talboys and the Dodds, especially Miss Dodd, would never coalesce; hence my objection in inviting them; but you overruled me—with a rod of iron, dear." "Yes; but why? because you gave me such a bad reason ; you never said a word about this incongruity." " But it was in my mind all the time." "Then why didn't it come out?" "Because—because something else would come out instead. As if one gave one's real reasons for things!! Now,uncle, dear, you allow me great liberties, but would it have been quite the thing for me to lecture you upon the selection of your own convives f " Why, you have ended by do...« less