RODERICK HUDSON
"Oh, mother 's as usual."
"And Miss Garland?"
"Miss Garland's as usual too. Every one, every thing 's as usual. Nothing ever happens in this benighted town."
"I beg your pardon; things do happen some times," said Cecilia. "Here 's a dear cousin of mine arrived on purpose to sing to you the praises of your little bronze." And she called to Rowland to come and be introduced to Mr. Hudson. The young man sprang up with alacrity, and Rowland, coming forward to shake hands, had a good look at him in the light projected from the parlour window. Something seemed to shine out of Hudson's face as a warning against random compliments.
"Your statuette seems to me very interesting," Rowland gravely said. "It has given me immense pleasure."
"And my cousin really knows what things are worth," Cecilia went on. "My cousin 's a judge and a critic."
Hudson smiled and stared. "A judge—a critic?" he echoed, laughing. "He 's the first then I 've ever seen! Let me see what they look like;" and he drew Rowland nearer to the light. "Have they all such good heads as that? I should like to model yours."
"Oh do it!" said Cecilia. "It will keep him with us a while. He 's running off otherwise to Europe."
"Ah, off to Europe!" Hudson exclaimed with a melancholy cadence as they sat down. "Happy, happy man!"
But the note seemed to Rowland struck rather at
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