"Fanny, if ever you whisper a word of this to any one, I will never speak to you again."
"Of course, I shall not whisper it."
"I cannot explain to you all about it,—how it would ruin me. I think I should kill myself outright if my aunt were to know it; and yet I did nothing wrong. I would not encourage a man to come to me in that way for all the world; but I could not help his coming. I got myself into the kitchen; but when I found that he was in the house I thought it would be better to open the door and speak to him."
"Very much better. I would have slapped his face. A lover should know when to come and when to stay away."
"I was ashamed to think that I did not dare to speak to him, and so I opened the door. I was very angry with him."
"But still, perhaps, you like him,—just a little; is not that true, Linda?"
"I do not know; but this I know, I do not want ever to see him again."
"Come, Linda; never is a long time."
"Let it be ever so long, what I say is true."
"The worst of Ludovic is that he is a ne'er-do-well. He spends more money than he earns, and he is one of those wild spirits who are always making up some plan of politics—who live with one foot inside the State prison, as it were. I like a lover to be gay, and all that; but it is not well to have one's young man carried off and locked up by the burgomasters. But, Linda, do not be unhappy. Be sure that I shall not tell; and as for Max Bogen, his tongue is not his own. I should like to hear him say a word about such a thing when I tell him to be silent."