He never went
to Cowfold himself, nor could he ever be persuaded to let little
Pauline go. She had been frequently invited, but he always declined
the invitation courteously on the ground that he could not spare her.
The fame of her beauty and abilities had, however, reached Cowfold,
and so it came to pass that when Mr. Thomas Broad, junior, being duly
instructed in the doctrine of the Comforter, entered the Dissenting
College in London, he determined that at the first opportunity he
would call and see her. He had been privately warned both by his
father and mother that he was on no account to visit this particular
friend of the Allens, firstly, because Zachariah was reputed to be,
"inclined towards infidelity," and secondly, because, summing up the
whole argument, he was not "considered respectable."
"Of course, my dear, you know his history," quoth Mrs. Broad, "and it
would very much interfere with your usefulness if you were to be
intimate with him."
Little Pauline had by this time grown to be a woman, or very nearly
one. She had, as in nine times, perhaps, out of ten is the case,
inherited her temperament from her mother. She had also inherited
something more, for she was like her in face.
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