He
pronounced Jock's butterflies to be perfectly disgraceful.
"You said you'd see to them," returned Jock.
"Yes, I shall take up insects when I have done with plants," said
Bobus, coolly.
"And say, 'Solomon, I have surpassed thee'?" asked Mr. Ogilvie.
Bobus looked as if he did not like it; but his mother shook her head
at him as one who well deserved the little rebuke for self-
sufficiency. There was certainly a wonderful winning way about her-â
there was a simplicity of manner almost like that of Babie herself,
and yet the cleverness of a highly-educated woman. Mary Ogilvie did
not wonder at what Mr. and Mrs. Acton had said of the charm of that
unpretending household, now broken up.
There was, too, the perception that, beneath the surface on which,
like the children, she played so lightly, there were depths of sorrow
that might not be stirred, which added a sweetness and pathos to all
she said and did.
Of many a choice curiosity the children said, in lowered tones of
reverence, that "_he_ found it;" and these she would not allow to be
passed over, but showed fondly off in all their best points, telling
their story as if she loved to dwell upon it.
Barbara, who had specially fastened herself on Mr. Ogilvie, according
to the modern privileges of small girls, after having much amused him
by doing the honours of her own miscellaneous treasury, insisted on
exhibiting "Mother Carey's studio.
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