7. Twonnet
Me. "Whittakee carefully abstained from going often to Mr. Adams's after the evening of his conversation with Roxy. For at the breakfast table next morning Twonnet had turned the conversation to her friend. She spoke seriously as seriously as she could but there was mischief lurking in the twinkle of her black eyes as she praised Roxy and watched the minister's face, which was paler than usual this morning. Her Swiss tongue mn.^t go about something, and nothing excited her enthusiasm more than the virtues of Roxy Adams.
" She's perfection," said Twonnet with moderation. " She's just perfection, Mr. Whittaker, and nothing less."
"She seems a very nice girl indeed," said the minister guardedly ; but his reserve only amused Twonnet all the more, for now she laughed that clear, ringing laugh that is characteristic of Swiss girls ; while every brown curl on her head shook.
" Qv'as-tu ? " said her father, reproachfully.
" Oh, let her laugh, Mr. Lefaure," said Whittaker ; " Twonnet's fun is always good-natured ; but to save my life I couldn't tell what she is laughing at."
" Because you said that Roxy was a very nice person, Mr. Whittaker. You could almost say that of me now, and I am nobody along side of Roxy ; nobody but a "
"A giggler," said the mother with a quiet chuckle, the wrinkles about the corners of her eyes showing plainly that she had been what Twonnet was then. For a heart chuckle is the old age of a giggle.
"I tell you what, Mr. Whittaker," said Twonnet, sipping her coffee and looking at the minister under her eyebrows, " Roxy is the kind of a person that people put in books. Saint Roxy, how would that sound ? " This last was half soliloquy. " Roxy is the kind of person that would feel obliged to anybody who would give her a chance to be a martyr."
" Toinette" said the father, shaking his head, " taistoi ! " He was annoyed now because the younger children, seeing that Twonnet meant mischief, began to laugh.
" I'm not saying any harm," replied the daring girl, with roguish solemnity. " I only said that Roxy would like to be a martyr, and you think I mean that she would even marry a minister. I didn't say that."
The children tittered. Whittaker's pale face reddened a little, and he laughed heartily ; but this time the father frowned and stamped his foot in emphasis of his sharp " Tais-toi, Toinette, je te dis ! "
Twonnet knew by many experiments the precise limit A safe disobedience to her father. There was an implied threat in his " Je te dis" and she now reddened and grew silent with a look of injured innocence.
If Twonnet had had a lurking purpose to promote the acquaintance between Whittaker and Roxy Adams, she had defeated herself by her suggestion, for Whittaker hardly went near the old hewed-log house again in months. His foible was his honor, and one in his situation could not think of marriage, and, as he reasoned, ought not to make talk which might injure Roxy's interests if not his own. Twonnet was disappointed, and with her disappoint ment there was a lugubrious feeling that she had made a mistake. She said no more about Roxy, but she continued to tease the minister gently about other things, just because it was her nature to tease. Once Whittaker had tried to talk with her, as became his calling, about religion ; but she could not help giving him droll replies which made his gravity unsteady, and brought the interview to a premature close.