The things we do!

I have heard that--oh--that man Sir Barnes say so myself. She says humbly
that her cousin Kew was a great deal too good for her; and so is every
one almost, she adds, poor thing!"
"Poor every one! Did you ask about him, Laura?" said Mr. Pendennis.
"No; I did not venture. She looked at me out of her downright eyes, and
went on with her little tale. 'I was scarcely more than a child then,'
she continued, 'and though I liked Kew very much--who would not like such
a generous honest creature? I felt somehow that I was taller than my
cousin, and as if I ought not to marry him, or should make him unhappy if
I did. When poor papa used to talk, we children remarked that mamma
hardly listened to him; and so we did not respect him as we should, and
Barnes was especially scoffing and odious with him. Why, when he was a
boy, he used to sneer at papa openly before us younger ones. Now Harriet
admires everything that Kew says, and that makes her a great deal happier
at being with him.


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