Page 50 - bleak-house

‘No, sir,’ I said, ‘I don’t think I shall,’ really not seeing on
consideration why I should be.
So Mr. Kenge gave me his arm and we went round the
corner, under a colonnade, and in at a side door. And so
we came, along a passage, into a comfortable sort of room
where a young lady and a young gentleman were standing
near a great, loud-roaring fire. A screen was interposed be-
tween them and it, and they were leaning on the screen,
talking.
They both looked up when I came in, and I saw in the
young lady, with the fire shining upon her, such a beauti-
ful girl! With such rich golden hair, such soft blue eyes, and
such a bright, innocent, trusting face!
‘Miss Ada,’ said Mr. Kenge, ‘this is Miss Summerson.’
She came to meet me with a smile of welcome and her
hand extended, but seemed to change her mind in a moment
and kissed me. In short, she had such a natural, captivating,
winning manner that in a few minutes we were sitting in
the window-seat, with the light of the fire upon us, talking
together as free and happy as could be.
What a load off my mind! It was so delightful to know
that she could confide in me and like me! It was so good of
her, and so encouraging to me!
The young gentleman was her distant cousin, she told
me, and his name Richard Carstone. He was a handsome
youth with an ingenuous face and a most engaging laugh;
and after she had called him up to where we sat, he stood
by us, in the light of the fire, talking gaily, like a light-heart-
ed boy. He was very young, not more than nineteen then,

50 Bleak House