"
"All this is very amusing, Maria--but--"
"It is all very true. Then he was pressing, and you
were coy, until finally he extorted your definitive
answer, which was--" Maria paused, and seemed to
be intensely studying the looks of the other--Miss
Henley smiled as she turned her placid, ingenuous
features to her gaze, and continued the
conversation by repeating,
"Which was?"
"NO; irretrievable--unanswerable--unalterable NO."
"I have not authorized you to suspect any part of
this rhapsody to be true--I have not said you were
right in a single particular."
"Excuse me, Miss Henley, you have said all, and
Seymour Delafield told me the same as we passed
each other at the street door."
"Is it possible!"
"It could not be otherwise. His mouth was shut, it
is true, and his tongue might have been in his
pocket, for any thing I know: but his eyes and his
head, his walk, and even his nose were downcast,
and spoke mortification. On the other hand, your
little body looks an inch higher, your eyes look
resolute, as much as to say, 'Avaunt, false one!
your whole appearance is that of determined denial,
mingled--"
"Mingled with what, trifler?"
"Mingled with a little secret, woman's pride, that
you have had an opportunity of showing your
absolute character."
"You know these feelings from experience, do you?"
"No child, my very nature is charity; if the request
had been made to me, I should have sent the
desponding youth to my father, and if he refused,
to my mother--"
"And if she refused?"
"Why then I should have said, two negatives make
an affirmative.
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