"Has she a good figure, sir?"

"Ha! you're like the Turks, are you? A nice-looking woman doesn't
content you--you must have her well-made too. We can accommodate you,
sir; we are slim and tall, with a swing of our hips, and we walk like
a goddess. Wait and see how her head is put on her shoulders--I say
no more. Proud? Not she! A simple, unaffected, kind-hearted creature.
Always the same; I never saw her out of temper in my life; I never
heard her speak ill of anybody. The man who gets her will be a man to be
envied, I can tell you!"

"Is she engaged to be married?"

"No. She has had plenty of offers; but she doesn't seem to care for
anything of that sort--so far. Devotes herself to Mrs. Farnaby, and
keeps up her school-friendships. A splendid creature, with the vital
thermometer at temperate heart--a calm, meditative, equable person. Pass
me the olives. Only think! the man who discovered olives is unknown;
no statue of him erected in any part of the civilized earth. I know few
more remarkable instances of human ingratitude."

I risked a bold question--but not on the subject of olives. "Isn't Miss
Regina's life rather a dull one in this house?"

The doctor cautiously lowered his voice. "It would be dull enough to
some women. Regina's early life has been a hard one. Her mother was Mr.
Ronald's eldest daughter. The old brute never forgave her for marrying
against his wishes. Mrs. Ronald did all she could, secretly, to help the
young wife in disgrace. But old Ronald had sole command of the money,
and kept it to himself. From Regina's earliest childhood there was
always distress at home. Her father harassed by creditors, trying one
scheme after another, and failing in all; her mother and herself, half
starved--with their very bedclothes sometimes at the pawnbrokers. I
attended them in their illnesses, and though they hid their wretchedness
from everybody else (proud as Lucifer, both of them!), they couldn't
hide it from me. Fancy the change to this house! I don't say that living
here in clover is enough for such a person as Regina; I only say it
has its influence. She is one of those young women, sir, who delight in
sacrificing themselves to others--she is devoted, for instance, to Mrs.
Farnaby. I only hope Mrs. Farnaby is worthy of it! Not that it
matters to Regina. What she does, she does out of her own sweetness of
disposition. She brightens this household, I can tell you! Farnaby did
a wise thing, in his own domest