Why, only yesterday Nelly had said that there was no one so comfortable as Robin to go about with, and then, in a fit of compunction, had flown to her father and hugged him hard.
"Never mind, Nell, never mind," the General had said.

"I never took you about much, did I?
We were great home-keepers, you and I.Never seemed to want to gad about, did we?
I ought to have taken you about more.

It was a dull life for a young girl--a dull life.

I ought to be obliged to your aunt for showing me the error of my ways, for making life pleasanter for you." He gulped over the end of the speech.
"It was a lovely life," cried Nelly wildly, and then burst into tears.
The General was terribly distressed.

He had had no experience of Nelly in tears.