She complained of these eyes to Mrs. Cole. "Why does he twinkle so? I
can see it is at me. I am doing something foolish--I know I am."
Mrs. Cole turned, and fixed a haughty stare on the old gentleman. Would
you believe it? instead of sinking through the floor, he sat his ground,
and retorted with a cold, clear grin.
But now, whenever Rosa's agent bid for her, and the other man of straw
against him, the black eyes twinkled, and Rosa's courage began to ooze
away. At last she said, "That is enough for one day. I shall go. Who
could bear those eyes?"
The broker took her address; so did the auctioneer's clerk. The
auctioneer asked her for no deposit; her beautiful, innocent, and
high-bred face was enough for a man who was always reading faces, and
interpreting them.
And so they retired.
But this charming sex is like that same auctioneer's hammer, it cannot
go abruptly. It is always going--going--going--a long time before it is
gone. I think it would perhaps loiter at the door of a jail, with the
order of release in its hand, after six years' confinement. Getting up
to go quenches in it the desire to go. So these ladies having got up to
go, turned and lingered, and hung fire so long, that at last another set
of oak chairs came up.
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