? ? ? ? 'You have been silent for a long time, and now you are going to be cross!' said Dora.
? ? ? ? 'No, my dear, indeed! Let me explain to you what I mean.'
? ? ? ? 'I think I don't want to know,' said Dora.
? ? ? ? 'But I want you to know, my love. Put Jip down.'
? ? ? ? Dora put his nose to mine, and said 'Boh!' to drive my seriousness away; but, not succeeding, ordered him into his Pagoda, and sat looking at me, with her hands folded, and a most resigned little expression of countenance.
? ? ? ? 'The fact is, my dear,' I began, 'there is contagion in us. We infect everyone about us.'
? ? ? ? I might have gone on in this figurative manner, if Dora's face had not admonished me that she was wondering with all her might whether I was going to propose any new kind of vaccination, or other medical remedy, for this unwholesome state of ours. Therefore I checked myself, and made my meaning plainer.
? ? ? ? 'It is not merely, my pet,' said I, 'that we lose money and comfort, and even temper sometimes, by not learning to be more careful; but that we incur the serious responsibility of spoiling everyone who comes into our service, or has any dealings with us. I begin to be afraid that the fault is not entirely on one side, but that these people all turn out ill because we don't turn out very well ourselves.
Pages:
1097
1098
1099
1100
1101
1102
1103
1104
1105
1106
1107
1108
1109
1110
1111
1112
1113
1114
1115
1116
1117
1118
1119
1120
1121