"And so that is settled at last," said Violet to Laura that night.
"I hope you do not regret it."
"On the contrary, I am as happy as the moments are long."
"My fine girl!"
"I am happy because I love him. I have always loved him. You have known that."
"Indeed, no."
"But I have, after my fashion. I am not tumultuous, as he calls himself. Since he began to make eyes at me when he was nineteen—"
"Fancy Oswald making eyes!"
"Oh, he did, and mouths too. But from the beginning, when I was a child, I have known that he was dangerous, and I have thought that he would pass on and forget me after a while. And I could have lived without him. Nay, there have been moments when I thought I could learn to love some one else."
"Poor Phineas, for instance."