"Did the answer satisfy him?"
"Oh, dear no!" she replied, with a laugh. "He wanted a reply in a week."
"And you promised to give it?"
"No, I did not! I told him if he wanted a different answer to the one I had given, he must let me have a month to consider it."
"Well, and what then?"
"On his pressing me to be, as he termed it, more reasonable, and to let him know in a week, I promised that I would try what could be done in the time."
"And so he came to receive your answer tonight—which you were not prepared to give. Is that it?"
"My opinion is," answered Mary, "that a woman gains nothing by making herself too cheap."
"Well, it's a serious matter, my child, and one not to be trifled with," Mrs. Ranger added seriously.
"Yes, I know; but really I cannot help laughing when I see what long faces the men put on if they want to tell a woman they love her."