He had a vivid impression of being done peculiar
honour by their recognition of him as a new friend, for so they received
him. As he looked from one to another of their faces he experienced
another of those curious sensations which had from time to time assailed
him ever since he had first put his head inside the door of this house,
the sensation of looking in upon a new world of which he had known
nothing, and of being strangely drawn by all he saw there. It was not
alone the effect of meeting a more than ordinarily alluring girl, for
each member of the family had for him something of this drawing quality.
As he studied them it was clear to him that they belonged together, that
they loved each other, that the very walls of this old home were
eloquent of the life lived here.
He had of course seen and noted families before, noted them carelessly
enough: rich families, poor families, big families, little, newly begun
families; but of a certain sort of family of which this was the
interesting and inviting type he knew as little as the foreigner, newly
landed on American shores, knows of the depths of the great country's
interior.
Pages:
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59