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The Reverberator by Henry James
page 20 of 198 (10%)
floated in quiet waters--cast anchor and waited. This appeared to be one
of them now; but he could be patient, knowing that he should soon again
inhale the brine and feel the dip of his prow. When his daughters were
out for any time the occasion affected him as a "weather-breeder"--the
wind would be then, as a kind of consequence, GOING to rise; but their
now being out with a remarkably bright young man only sweetened the
temporary calm. That belonged to their superior life, and Mr. Dosson
never doubted that George M. Flack was remarkably bright. He represented
the newspaper, and the newspaper for this man of genial assumptions
represented--well, all other representations whatever. To know Delia and
Francie thus attended by an editor or a correspondent was really to see
them dancing in the central glow. This is doubtless why Mr. Dosson had
slightly more than usual his air of recovering slowly from a pleasant
surprise. The vision to which I allude hung before him, at a convenient
distance, and melted into other bright confused aspects: reminiscences
of Mr. Flack in other relations--on the ship, on the deck, at the hotel
at Liverpool, and in the cars. Whitney Dosson was a loyal father, but he
would have thought himself simple had he not had two or three strong
convictions: one of which was that the children should never go out with
a gentleman they hadn't seen before. The sense of their having, and his
having, seen Mr. Flack before was comfortable to him now: it made mere
placidity of his personally foregoing the young man's society in favour
of Delia and Francie. He had not hitherto been perfectly satisfied that
the streets and shops, the general immensity of Paris, were just the
safest place for young ladies alone. But the company of a helpful
gentleman ensured safety--a gentleman who would be helpful by the fact
of his knowing so much and having it all right there. If a big newspaper
told you everything there was in the world every morning, that was what
a big newspaper-man would have to know, and Mr. Dosson had never
supposed there was anything left to know when such voices as Mr. Flack's
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