"No wonder. Half the gentlemen on the boat are in love with her, and she is so mercilessly indifferent to all their blandishments! Yet she is of an age to love flattery and adulation."
"She appears like one whose heart is preöccupied," remarked the clerk.
"But she is too young for that to be the case, I would suppose."
"Love is restricted to no particular age."
"She is from the north, too, and the maidens of those cold climes are less susceptible to the influence of the tender passion than the daughters of our sunny shores," pursued Gilbert.
"Less susceptible it may be," answered the clerk, "but once enkindled, the flame seldom flickers or grows dim. Northern hearts are slow to wake and hard to change. I was raised in Yankee land, Gilbert, and should know something of Yankee girls."
"True, true; but where do you say this young lady is going?"
"To New Orleans."
"And do you know where she will stop in the city?"
"At the residence of her uncle, Esq. Camford."