"It makes us all happy, dear old Eugene!"
And with a brave gesture she stretched out her hand to him across the
small table. He took it quickly, giving her a look in which his
laughter tried to remain, but vanished before a gratitude threatening
to become emotional in spite of him. Isabel, however, turned
instantly to Fanny. "Give him your hand, Fanny," she said gayly; and,
as Fanny mechanically obeyed, "There!" Isabel cried. "If brother
George were here, Eugene would have his three oldest and best friends
congratulating him all at once. We know what brother George thinks
about it, though. It's just beautiful, Eugene!"
Probably if her brother George had been with them at the little table,
he would have made known what he thought about herself, for it must
inevitably have struck him that she was in the midst of one of those
"times" when she looked "exactly fourteen years old." Lucy served as
a proxy for Amberson, perhaps, when she leaned toward George and
whispered: "Did you ever see anything so lovely?"
"As what?" George inquired, not because he misunderstood, but because
he wished to prolong the pleasant neighbourliness of whispering.
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