Phœbe stroked her cousin's face fondly, and rested her head on Fanny's shoulder.
"I hope," said Fanny, "that they won't be disappointed when they find out that he doesn't mean me, after all. But I don't think they will be when they know it is you, darling."
"Oh, Fanny! And he has never said one word to me!"
"What of that, sly puss? I can speak with my eyes quite as well as I can with my tongue; and Fred Cornwall is a great deal cleverer than I am. I don't positively hate him, you know."
"It would be very wrong of you to do so."
"And I don't positively love him. I like him, just a little, in a so-soish way. How it might have been if I didn't happen to have the dearest, sweetest, prettiest cousin that a foolish girl could ever boast of, isn't for me to say." (More hugs and embraces here.) "I might have fallen a victim to his lordship's charms; I don't say I should, but I might."
"But, Fanny," said Phœbe, in a low tone, her lips slightly trembling, "it is foolish, it is wrong, to speak like this."
"Now, Phœbe!" said Fanny, holding up a warning forefinger.
"Well, I won't say a word."
"That's a good, sensible, sweet-hearted cousin."