Monsieur Nasson and Others

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1893. Excerpt: ... AIMEE. i. Mk., Mrs. And Miss Hyde were traveling in Europe. It must at once be said that Miss Hyde was not the daughter of the family. Her sister-in-law speedily disabused any one who chanced to attribute that tall girl to her. Her daughter was only ten years old, and was at home with grandmamma, who could not bear to part with her. That point being settled, however, and, lest the zeal with which any maternal interest had been disclaimed should lead astray in another direction, she was ready to add that Amy was just eighteen. There is no use in letting people suppose even your sister-in-law to be older than she is. So Mrs. Hyde proclaimed Amy's youth in public, although that did not prevent her from reproaching her in private with being as old as the hills. Precisely what she meant by this charge it might be difficult to state clearly. It was made whenever their tastes differed, and it 125 probably signified nothing more than that Amy was not what her sister-in-law remembered herself to have been at the same age. Perhaps she was not. If, for instance, there is an exact measure for the interest that a young girl should take in shopping, considered in the abstract as a feminine occupation, Amy may not have come up to the mark. That is not to say that she had no proper regard for a new bonnet. She would conscientiously inspect the millinery until some combination of velvet and feathers, viewed on all sides with the assistance of a handglass, struck her as being the right thing, and then she was ready to go; she looked weary if Mrs. Hyde lingered; she asked what was the use when further pressed to just try on this or that. Mademoiselle a raison, said the French milliner, approvingly, c'estce chapeau-ci qui Iai convient. But Mrs. Hyde thought that ...