'I wonder if I'm pretty,' thought she.'I almost think I am - in this kind of dress I mean, of course.Betty would say, "Fine feathers make fine birds."' When she went downstairs in her bridal attire, and with shy blushes presented herself for inspection, she was greeted with a burst of admiration.'Well, upon my word! I shouldn't have known you.' ('Fine feathers,' thought Molly, and checked her rising vanity.) 'You are really beautiful - isn't she, sister?' said Miss Phoebe.'Why, my dear, if you were always dressed, you would be prettier than your dear mamma, whom we always reckoned so very personable.' 'You're not a bit like her.You favour your father, and white always sets off a brown complexion.' 'But isn't she beautiful?' persevered Miss Phoebe.'Well! and if she is, Providence made her, and not she herself.Besides, the dressmaker must go shares.What a fine India muslin it is! it'll have cost a pretty penny!' Mr Gibson and Molly drove over to Ashcombe, the night before the wedding, in the one yellow post-chaise that Hollingford possessed.They were to be Mr Preston's, or, rather, my lord's, guests at the Manor-house.The Manor-house came up to its name, and delighted Molly at first sight.It was built of stone, had many gables and mullioned windows, and was covered over with Virginian creeper and late-blowing roses.Molly did not know Mr Preston, who stood in the doorway to greet her father.She took standing with him as a young lady at once, and it was the first time she had met with the kind of behaviour - half complimentary, half flirting - which some men think it necessary to assume with every woman under five-and-twenty.
第71章 MOLLY GIBSONS NEW FRIENDS (3)（2 / 3）