It had been supposed that he
would at once return to England, and he was continually talking of
doing so; but he had, under one excuse or other, put off his
departure from time to time. He was very frequently over at Mount
Pleasant and was generally a companion of the boys upon their
excursions.
"I think Cooper is almost as much here as he is at Canterbury,"
Charley said, laughing, one day.
Mrs. Hardy happened to glance at Maud, and noticed a bright flush
of color on her cheeks. She made no remark at the time, but spoke
to Mr. Hardy about it at night.
"You see, my dear," she concluded, "we are still considering Maud
as a child, but other people may look upon her as a woman."
"I am sorry for this," Mr. Hardy said after a pause, "We ought to
have foreseen the possibility of such a thing. Now that it is
mentioned, I wonder we did not do so before. Mr. Cooper has been
here so much that the thing would have certainly struck us, had we
not, as you say, looked upon Maud as a child. Against Mr. Cooper I
have nothing to say. We both like him extremely. His principles are
good, and he would, in point of money, be of course an excellent
match for our little girl. At the same time, I cannot permit
anything like an engagement. Mr. Cooper has seen no other ladies
for so long a time that it is natural enough he should fall in love
with Maud.
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