The third, who was best mounted,
best dressed, and incomparably the best-looking of the three, advanced,
as if to cover the incivility of her companions.
"We have lost the right path that leads through these morasses, and our
party have gone forward without us," said the young lady. "Seeing you,
father, at the door of your house, we have turned this way to--"
"Hush!" interrupted the Dwarf; "so young, and already so artful? You
came--you know you came, to exult in the consciousness of your own
youth, wealth, and beauty, by contrasting them with age, poverty, and
deformity. It is a fit employment for the daughter of your father; but O
how unlike the child of your mother!"
"Did you, then, know my parents, and do you know me?"
"Yes; this is the first time you have crossed my waking eyes, but I have
seen you in my dreams."
"Your dreams?"
"Ay, Isabel Vere. What hast thou, or thine, to do with my waking
thoughts?"
"Your waking thoughts, sir," said the second of Miss Vere's companions,
with a sort of mock gravity, "are fixed, doubtless, upon wisdom; folly
can only intrude on your sleeping moments.
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