n-gerish, too ?and somehow at once both impressive and rather comical - were the whiskers that swept from his top lip to his ears, and his eyebrows, and the hair in his nose. His skin was as clear and shiny as a boy''s. His eyes were blue.
When Kitty returned his card to him, he asked if he might speak with her a moment, and at once she stood aside to let him pass. With him in it, the little room seemed very full and hot. I rose, reluctantly, and put on my gloves and my hat, and said that I should go; and then Kitty introduced me - ''My friend, Miss Astley,'' she called me, which made me feel a little gayer - and Mr Bliss shook my hand.
Tell your Mother,'' said Kitty as she showed me to the door, ''that I shall come tomorrow, any time she likes.''
''Come at four,'' I said.
''Four it is, then!'' She briefly took my hand again, and kissed my cheek.
Over her shoulder I saw the flashy gentleman fingering his whiskers, but with his eyes turned, politely, away from us.
I can hardly say what a curious mix of feelings mine were, the Sunday afternoon when Kitty came to call on us in Whitstable. She was more to me than all the world; that she should be visiting me in my own home, and supping with my family, seemed both a delight too lovely to be borne and a great and
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and walked like a girl, with her plait fastened to the back of her head and a parasol over her arm, I felt a little pang of disappointment. This swiftly turned, however - as always - to desire, and then to pride, for she looked terribly smart and handsome on that dusty Whitstable platform. She kissed my cheek when I went up to her, and took my arm, and let me lead her from the station to our house, across the sea-front. She said, ''Well! And this is where you were born, and grew up?''