"'And then she has you with her, and I can't fancy anybody feeling solitary, dear Miss Crawford, while they can have your society.'
"'Dear Miss Crawford,' was in no mood to accept compliments patiently—they would have had a false ring to my ear at that moment, coming even from those whom I knew well and loved, so they were not likely to be accepted with good grace from this comparative stranger. I suppose she would have thought me unkind for considering her so, but I never found it easy to get up the girlish enthusiasm necessary for cementing sudden and violent friendship.
"'That is a very pretty speech,' I said bluntly, 'but it doesn't mean anything at all.'
"Lucy dropped her tiny hands and went off into a peal of laughter that, I must confess, was sweet as a chime of silver bells.
"'You do say the oddest things!' she exclaimed. 'I never knew any one so original as you are, but dear Miss Crawford, though I like it exceedingly myself, do you think—'
"She hesitated, and as I saw she never would finish her sentence unless I asked the desired question, I inquired—
"'Do I think what, Miss Eaton?'
"'That—that gentlemen quite like it. Young girls have to be so particular, you know, or they displease them.'
"'Really,' I said, 'I have never taken the trouble to think about the matter; and to tell you the truth, I fear I should not much care, even if I had.'
"'Ah, to be sure, you are differently situated from so many girls—with your beauty and your great fortune, whatever you say or do will always be thought charming—Oh, dear Miss Crawford, I did not mean that—indeed I did not! Now you are vexed with me, I am sure.'