“Tall?” 

 “Immensely tall!” Rosa being short. 

 “Must be gawky, I should think,” is Rosa’s quiet commentary. 

 “I beg your pardon; not at all,” contradiction rising in him. 

 “What is termed a fine woman; a splendid woman.” 

 “Big nose, no doubt,” is the quiet commentary again. 

 “Not a little one, certainly,” is the quick reply, (Rosa’s being a little one.) 

 “Long pale nose, with a red knob in the middle. I know the sort of nose,” says Rosa, with a satisfied nod, and tranquilly enjoying the Lumps. 

 “You don’t know the sort of nose, Rosa,” with some warmth; “because it’s nothing of the kind.” 

 “Not a pale nose, Eddy?” 

 “No.” Determined not to assent. 

 “A red nose? O! I don’t like red noses. However; to be sure she can always powder it.” 

 “She would scorn to powder it,” says Edwin, becoming heated. 

 “Would she? What a stupid thing she must be! Is she stupid in everything?” 

 “No; in nothing.” 

 After a pause, in which the whimsically wicked face has not been unobservant of him, Rosa says: 

 “And this most sensible of creatures likes the idea of being carried off to Egypt; does she, Eddy?” 

 “Yes. She takes a sensible interest in triumphs of engineering skill: especially when they are to change the whole condition of an undeveloped country.” 

 “Lor!” says Rosa, shrugging her shoulders, with a little laugh of wonder. 

 “Do you object,” Edwin inquires, with a majestic turn of his eyes downward 

 Prev. P 23/241 next