It would have been nothing at all without him and his eye-glass.

He did not appear to bear me any hard feelings, I was glad to see, for my unkindness of the morning.

He nodded affably, and said "'do!" to me, in his usual way, as if he had not met me before.
Min and her mother did not linger as did the other parishioners; so, I had only an opportunity of a passing bow, without that other tender little hand-clasp which I had hoped for.

But she looked at me, and that was something.
Lady Dasher, however, stopped for a minute or two; so did her daughters.
"Beautiful weather for Christmas, Lady Dasher," hazarded I.

She evidently did not agree with me, for she looked about her mournfully, with a down-drawn visage, just as if we were all attending a funeral, of which she was the chief mourner.
"Really, Mr Lorton, do you think so ?" came her answer at length.
"Don't you find it very cold ?" "Dear me, ma! why you said last Christmas that it was too warm!" said her daughter Bessie.
"Ah! Mr Lorton," continued her mother, not noticing her remark, "we never have those good, old-fashioned Christmases that we had when my poor dear papa was alive!" "No, I suppose not," I answered; "people say that it is because of the vast American forests being gradually cut down, admitting freer currents of air all over the world; while others put the change down to the influence of the Gulf Stream.