"I＇ve a few good things," Mr. Osmond allowed;"indeed I＇ve nothing very bad. But I＇ve not what I should have liked."
He stood there a little awkwardly, smiling and glancing about; his manner was an odd mixture of the detached and the involved. He seemed to hint that nothing but the right "values" was of any consequence.Isabel made a rapid induction: perfect simplicity was not the badge of his family. Even the little girl from the convent, who, in her prim white dress, with her small submissive face and her hands locked before her,stood there as if she were about to partake of her 昀rst communion, even Mr. Osmond＇s diminutive daughter had a kind of 昀nish that was not entirely artless.