"Did
you recognise him at once?"
If it be possible for a lady of this enlightened age to simper, Mrs.
Coombe simpered. "He recognised me at once!" with faint emphasis on
the pronouns.
The girl choked down a rising inclination to laugh.
"Why shouldn't he? I suppose you haven't changed very much."
"Hardly at all, he says; at least he says he would have known me
anywhere. But it's quite a long time, you know, terribly long. I was a
young girl then. Naturally, he was much older."
"I should have thought so. That's why it seems queer--your having been
schoolmates."
Mrs. Coombe looked cross. "I did not mean schoolmates in that sense."
"Oh, merely in a Pickwickian sense!" Esther's laugh bubbled out.
Mary arose. She was afraid to risk more at present, until she had been
to her room and--rested awhile. "You are rude, as usual," she said with
dignity. "When I said that Dr. Callandar and I were schoolmates I meant
simply that we were old friends, that we knew each other when we were
both younger. I do not see anything at all humorous in the statement.
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