, or contradictions which she thought too abrupt; but at such times her husband would lay his great hand almost caressingly on Mr Gibson's shoulder, and soothe his wife's anxiety, by saying, 'Let us alone, little woman.We understand each other, don't we, doctor? Why, bless your life, he gives me better than he gets many a time; only, you see, he sugars it over, and says a sharp thing, and pretends it's all civility and humility;but I can tell when he's giving me a pill.' One of Mrs Hamley's often-expressed wishes had been, that Molly might come and pay her a visit.Mr Gibson always refused this request of hers, though he could hardly have given his reasons for these refusals.He did not want to lose the companionship of his child, in fact; but he put it to himself in quite a different way.He thought her lessons and her regular course of employment would be interrupted.The life in Mrs Hamley's heated and scented room would not be good for the girl; Osborne and Roger Hamley would be at home, and he did not wish Molly to be thrown too exclusively upon them for young society; or they would not be at home, and it would be rather dull and depressing for his girl to be all the day long with a nervous invalid.But at length the day came when Mr Gibson rode over, and volunteered a visit from Molly; an offer which Mrs Hamley received with the 'open arms of her heart,' as she expressed it; and of which the duration was unspecified.
第21章 MR GIBSONS NEIGHBOURS (4)（2 / 3）