"I am sure you will never do that."
"You see, Mary, it is very nice to be called by a big name and to have a salary, and it is very comfortable to be envied by one's friends and enemies;—but there are drawbacks. There is this especial drawback." Then he paused for a moment before he went on.
"What especial drawback, Phineas?"
"A man cannot do what he pleases with himself. How can a man marry, so circumstanced as I am?"
She hesitated for a moment, and then she answered him,—"A man may be very happy without marrying, I suppose."
He also paused for many moments before he spoke again, and she then made a faint attempt to escape from him. But before she succeeded he had asked her a question which arrested her. "I wonder whether you would listen to me if I were to tell you a history?" Of course she listened, and the history he told her was the tale of his love for Violet Effingham.
"And she has money of her own?" Mary asked.
"Yes;—she is rich. She has a large fortune."
"Then, Mr. Finn, you must seek some one else who is equally blessed."
"Mary, that is untrue,—that is ill-natured. You do not mean that. Say that you do not mean it. You have not believed that I loved Miss Effingham because she was rich."