"_Il a de la delicatesse_," said Madame de Frontignac, who had been
watching this scene with bright, amused eyes,--while a chorus of loud
acclamations, in which Miss Prissy's voice took the lead, conveyed to
the innocent-minded Doctor the idea, that in some mysterious way he had
distinguished himself in the eyes of his feminine friends; whereat he
retired to his study slightly marvelling, but on the whole well
pleased, as men generally are when they do better than they expect; and
Miss Prissy, turning out all profaner persons from the apartment, held
a solemn consultation, to which only Mary, Mrs. Scudder, and Madame de
Frontignac were admitted. For it is to be observed that the latter had
risen daily and hourly in Miss Prissy's esteem, since her entrance into
the cottage; and she declared, that, if she only would give her a few
hints, she didn't believe but that she could make that dress look just
like a Paris one; and rather intimated that in such a case she might
almost be ready to resign all mortal ambitions.
The afternoon of this day, just at that cool hour when the clock ticks
so quietly in a New England kitchen, and everything is so clean and put
away that there seems to be nothing to do in the house, Mary sat
quietly down in her room to hem a ruffle.
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