"I'm not certain that I'm in love with him," she said timidly.
"You mustn't confuse being 'in love' with loving, childie dear," said Miss Melody.
They looked at one another in silence.
Apparently Miss Melody had no further assistance to give to Lily. Her subsequent counsel was merely repetition, and she concluded it by telling Lily gravely and kindly that nobody could really advise her, or had any right to try to influence her. She must decide for herself.
Lily left Bridgecrap with the complete certainty that the wise and experienced Miss Melody was strongly biased in favour of her pupil's immediate marriage with Nicholas Aubray.
"I shall expect to get news from you soon," said Miss Melody significantly in farewell.
It in no wise mitigated the significance, that she should add with an inscrutable smile:
"One way or the other."
It would fall extremely flat, Lily reflected ruefully, if her news were to be "the other," after all.
The novel sense of her own importance was so agreeable that she felt no more than a passing shock at the discovery that the Hardinges were perfectly aware of Nicholas's proposal.