Her delicate fingers folded themselves about Beulah's, who could not bring herself to withdraw her hand.
"And, sure enough, you would not be adopted? Do you mean to adhere to your determination, and maintain yourself by teaching?"
"I do."
"And I admire you for it! Beulah, you must get over your dislike to me."
"I do not dislike you, Cornelia."
"Thank you for your negative preference," returned Cornelia, rather amused at her companion's straightforward manner. Then, with a sudden contraction of her brow, she added:
"I am not so bearish as they give me credit for?"
"I never heard you called so."
"Ah! that is because you do not enter the enchanted circle of 'our clique.' During morning calls I am flattered, cajoled, and fawned upon. Their carriages are not out of hearing before my friends and admirers, like hungry harpies, pounce upon my character, manners, and appearance, with most laudable zest and activity. Wait till you have been initiated into my coterie of fashionable friends! Why, the battle of Marengo was a farce in comparison with the havoc they can effect in the space of a morning among the characters of their select visiting list! What a precious age of backbiting we city belles live in!" She spoke with an air of intolerable scorn.
"As a prominent member of this circle, why do you not attempt to rectify this spreading evil? You might effect lasting good."