"I have let her alone. I have neither spoken to her nor written to her. She does not mean to say that I have troubled her?"
"Of course you have not troubled her,—but she knows what we all mean."
"I have waited all the winter, Mrs. Fenwick, and have said not a word. How long was it that she knew her cousin before she was engaged to him?"
"What has that to do with it? You know what our wishes are; but, indeed, indeed, nothing can be done by hurrying her."
"She was engaged to that man, and the engagement broken off all within a month. It was no more than a dream."
"But the remembrance of such dreams will not fade away quickly. Let us hope that hereafter it may be as a dream;—but time must be allowed to efface the idea of its reality."
"Time;—yes; but cannot we arrange some plan for the future? Cannot something be done? I thought you said you would ask her to come here?"
"So I did,—but not yet."
"Why shouldn't she come now? You needn't ask because I am here. There is no saying whom she may meet, and then my chance will be gone again."
"Is that all you know about women, Harry? Do you think that the girl whom you love so dearly will take up with one man after another in that fashion?"