In
the conversation, where she bore a leading part as long as she remained
in the room, her mind took a wide range, and visited more human
interests than my wife was at first able to mention, though afterward
she remembered so many that I formed the notion of something
encyclopedic in its compass. When she reached the letter Z, she rose
and took leave of my wife, saying that now she must go and lie down, as
it appeared to be her invariable custom to do (in behalf of the robust
health which she had inherited unimpaired from a New England ancestry),
at exactly half-past four every afternoon. It was this, she said, more
than any one thing that enabled her to go through so much as she did;
but through the door which she left open behind her my wife heard
Talbert's voice saying, in mixed mockery and tenderness, "Don't forget
your tonic, mother," and hers saying, "No, I won't, Cyrus. I never
forget it, and it's a great pity you don't take it, too."
It was our conclusion from all the facts of this call, when we came to
discuss them in the light of some friendly gossip which we had
previously heard, that the eldest daughter of the Talberts came
honestly by her love of ruling if she got it from her grandmother, but
that she was able to indulge it oftener, and yet not so often as might
have been supposed from the mild reticence of her mother.
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