
never in my life,« he thought, »saw anything so remarkable and so captivating as
the lighting of those features!« His face betrayed his thoughts - perhaps
without betraying him, for it might have been according to its instructions so
to do.
    »Pardon me. The expression of your sisterly interest is so beautiful - Tom
should be so proud of it - I know this is inexcusable, but I am so compelled to
admire.«
    »Being so impulsive,« she said composedly.
    »Mrs. Bounderby, no: you know I make no pretence with you. You know I am a
sordid piece of human nature, ready to sell myself at any time for any
reasonable sum, and altogether incapable of any Arcadian proceeding whatever.«
    »I am waiting,« she returned, »for your further reference to my brother.«
    »You are rigid with me, and I deserve it. I am as worthless a dog as you
will find, except that I am not false - not false. But you surprised and started
me from my subject, which was your brother. I have an interest in him.«
    »Have you an interest in anything, Mr. Harthouse?« she asked, half
incredulously and half gratefully.
    »If you had asked me when I first came here, I should have said no. I must
say now - even at the hazard of appearing to make a pretence, and of justly
awakening your incredulity - yes.«
    She made a slight movement, as if she were trying to speak, but could not
find voice; at length she said, »Mr. Harthouse, I give you credit for being
interested in my brother.«
    »Thank you. I claim to deserve it. You know how little I do claim, but I
will go that length. You have done so much for him, you are so fond of him; your
whole life, Mrs. Bounderby, expresses such charming self-forgetfulness on his
account - pardon me again - I am running wide of the subject. I am interested in
him for his own sake.«
    She had made the slightest action possible, as if she would have risen in a
hurry and gone away. He had turned the course of what he said at that instant,
and she remained.
    »Mrs. Bounderby,« he resumed, in a lighter manner, and yet with a show of
effort in assuming it, which was even more expressive than the manner he
dismissed; »it is no irrevocable offence in a young fellow of your brother's
years,
