'I was
really afraid you were not disposed to talk pleasantly; I'll tell you
everything; I shall only be too glad, my dear.'
'No, Varden,' returned his wife, rising with dignity. 'I dare say--thank
you! I'm not a child to be corrected one minute and petted the next--I'm
a little too old for that, Varden. Miggs, carry the light.--YOU can be
cheerful, Miggs, at least.'
Miggs, who, to this moment, had been in the very depths of compassionate
despondency, passed instantly into the liveliest state conceivable,
and tossing her head as she glanced towards the locksmith, bore off her
mistress and the light together.
'Now, who would think,' thought Varden, shrugging his shoulders and
drawing his chair nearer to the fire, 'that that woman could ever be
pleasant and agreeable? And yet she can be. Well, well, all of us have
our faults. I'll not be hard upon hers. We have been man and wife too
long for that.'
He dozed again--not the less pleasantly, perhaps, for his hearty temper.
While his eyes were closed, the door leading to the upper stairs was
partially opened; and a head appeared, which, at sight of him, hastily
drew back again.
'I wish,' murmured Gabriel, waking at the noise, and looking round
the room, 'I wish somebody would marry Miggs.
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