"Oh! That bluff fellow!" said Steerforth. "He had a son with him, hadn't he?"
"No. That was his nephew," I replied; "whom he adopted, though, as a son. He has a very pretty little niece too, whom he adopted as a daughter. In short, his house (or rather his boat, for he lives in one, on dry land) is full of people who are objects of his generosity and kindness. You would be delighted to see that household."
"Should I?" said Steerforth. "Well, I think I should. I must see what can be done. It would be worth a journey—not to mention the pleasure of a journey with you, Daisy,—to see that sort of people together, and to make one of 'em."
My heart leaped with a new hope of pleasure. But it was in reference to the tone in which he had spoken of "that sort of people," that Miss Dartle, whose sparkling eyes had been watchful of us, now broke in again.
"Oh, but, really? Do tell me. Are they, though?" she said.
"Are they what? And are who what?" said Steerforth.
"That sort of people.—Are they really animals and clods, and beings of another order? I want to know so much."
"Why, there's a pretty wide separation between them and us," said Steerforth, with indifference. "They are not to be expected to be as sensitive as we are. Their delicacy is not to be shocked, or hurt very easily. They are wonderfully virtuous, I dare say—some people contend for that, at least; and I am sure I don't want to contradict them—but they have not very fine natures, and they may be thankful that, like their coarse rough skins, they are not easily wounded."
"Really!" said Miss Dartle. "Well, I don't know, now, when I have been better pleased than to hear that. It's so consoling! It's such a delight to know that, when they suffer, they don't feel! Sometimes I have been quite uneasy for that sort of people; but now I shall just dismiss the idea of them, altogether. Live and learn. I had my doubts, I confess, but now they're cleared up. I didn't know, and now I do know; and that shows the advantage of asking—don't it?"
I believed that Steerforth had said what he had, in jest, or to draw Miss Dartle out; and I expected him to say as much when she was gone, and we two were sitting before the fire. But he merely asked me what I thought of her.
"She is very clever, is she not?" I asked.
"Clever! She brings everything to a grindstone," said Steerforth, "and sharpens it, as she has sharpened her own face and figure these years past. She has worn herself away by constant sharpening. She is all edge."
"What a remarkable scar that is upon her lip!" I said.
Steerforth's face fell, and he paused a moment.
"Why, the fact is," he returned, "—I did that."
"By an unfortunate accident!"
"No. I was a young boy, and she exasperated me, and I threw a hammer at her. A promising young angel I must have been!"
I was deeply sorry to have touched on such a painful theme, but that was useless now.
