"If you and he would only make a match of it!"
Miss Fanshawe squeezed Mrs. Purling's hand affectionately.
"I like him, I confess. More's the pity. I'm sure he detests me."
"As if it were possible!"
"Trust a girl to find out whether she's appreciated. Mr. Purling, for my sins, positively dislikes me; or else he has seen some one already to whom he has given his heart."
Mrs. Purling shook her head sadly, remembering artful Dolly Driver.
"You do not know all your son's secrets; no mother does."
And then Mrs. Purling described the absurd mistake in identity.
"You are not angry?" she went on. "For my part, I was furious. But nothing shall come of it, I solemnly declare. Harold will hardly risk my serious displeasure; but he shall know that, sooner than accept this creature as my daughter, I would banish him for ever from my sight."