I'm not a candidate for adoption." "I beg a thousand pardons," Ralph murmured.

"I meant--I meant--" He hardly knew what he meant.
"You meant she has taken me up.

Yes; she likes to take people up.
She has been very kind to me; but," she added with a certain visible eagerness of desire to be explicit, "I'm very fond of my liberty." "Are you talking about Mrs.Touchett ?" the old man called out from his chair.

"Come here, my dear, and tell me about her.

I'm always thankful for information." The girl hesitated again, smiling.