Anything to interest her. Friendship, love,
religion, whatever will set her nature at work. We must have headway on,
or there will be no piloting her. Action first of all, and then we will
see what to do with it."
So, when Cousin Richard came along, the Doctor, though he did not like
his looks any too well, told her father to encourage his staying for a
time. If she liked him, it was good; if she only tolerated him, it was
better than nothing.
"You know something about that nephew of yours, during these last years,
I suppose?" the Doctor said. "Looks as if he had seen life. Has a scar
that was made by a sword-cut, and a white spot on the side of his neck
that looks like a bullet-mark. I think he has been what folks call a
'hard customer.'"
Dudley Venner owned that he had heard little or nothing of him of late
years. He had invited himself, and of course it would not be decent not
to receive him as a relative. He thought Elsie rather liked having him
about the house for a while. She was very capricious,--acted as if she
fancied him one day and disliked him the next.
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