"So, then," said he, at last, "the question is not so easily answered as I suspected; and we will now pass to another one. Are your affections already engaged elsewhere?"
What could I say, Kitty, but "No! decidedly not." The embarrassment, however, so natural to an inquiry like this, made me blush and seem confused; and James, perceiving it, said,—
"Poor fellow, it will be a sad blow to him, for I know he loved you."
I tried to look astonished, angry, unconscious,—anything, in fact, which should convey displeasure and surprise together; but with that want of tact so essentially fraternal, he went on,—
"It was almost the last thing he said to me at parting, 'Don't let her forget me!'"
"May I venture to inquire," said I, haughtily, "of whom you are speaking?"
Simple and inoffensive as the words were, Kitty, they threw him into an ungovernable passion; he stamped, and stormed, and swore fearfully. He called me "a heartless coquette," "an unfeeling flirt," and a variety of epithets equally mellifluous as well merited.
I drew my embroidery-frame before me quite calmly under this torrent of abuse, and worked away at my pattern of the "Faithful Shepherd," singing to myself all the time.
"Are you really as devoid of feeling as this, Mary Anne?" asked he.
"My dear brother," said I, "don't you wish excessively for a commission in a regiment of Hussars or Lancers? Well, as your great merits have not been recognized at the Horse Guards, would you feel justified in refusing an appointment to the Rifle Brigade?"