"I never knew there were such women in the world!" returned Gilbert.
"I can understand your feelings perfectly, after my interview of
yesterday."

"She thinks even worse of you than of me," said Carl, with a faint
smile.

"I have no doubt Peter shares her sentiments. I didn't make many friends
in your family, it must be confessed."

"You did me a service, Gilbert, and I shall not soon forget it."

"Where did your stepmother come from?" asked Gilbert, thoughtfully.

"I don't know. My father met her at some summer resort. She was staying
in the same boarding house, she and the angelic Peter. She lost no time
in setting her cap for my father, who was doubtless reported to her as a
man of property, and she succeeded in capturing him."

"I wonder at that. She doesn't seem very fascinating."

"She made herself very agreeable to my father, and was even affectionate
in her manner to me, though I couldn't get to like her. The end was that
she became Mrs. Crawford. Once installed in our house, she soon threw
off the mask and showed herself in her true colors, a cold-hearted,
selfish and disagreeable woman."

"I wonder your father doesn't recognize her for what she is."