But one must say something by way of retaliation for hospitality one cannot
reject. So I put it off on any friends of theirs who might have occasion to
command us in the West. We should be so happy, and so forth. And, my dear,
she has taken me up on it! She's not impersonal now. She is so glad--for
dear Kitty's sake--that we are here, and she is sure we will be very
good to her--such a sweet girl, no one could help being--which rather
cuts down the margin for our goodness. The poor child--I am quoting Mrs.
Percifer--knows absolutely no one in the West but the man she is coming
to marry (?)and can have no conception of the journey she has before her.
She will be _so_ comforted to find us at the end of it. And if anything
unforeseen should occur to delay Mr. Harshaw, the fiance, and prevent his
meeting her train, it will be a vast relief to Kitty's friends to know that
the dear brave little girl is in good hands--ours, if you can conceive it!
Please observe the coolness with which she treats his _not_ meeting that
train, after the girl has traversed half the globe to compass her share of
their meeting.
Well, it's not the American way; but perhaps it will be when bad times have
humbled us a little more, and the question is whether we can marry our
daughters at all unless we can give them dowries, or professions to support
their husbands on, and "feelings" are a luxury only the rich can afford.
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