"I don't want to postpone it," said Mary ruefully; "if it be inevitable, I would sooner have it over."
"It will never be over," remarked Lady Garnett decisively. "Did I not say that he was tenacious—comme on ne l'est plus? You may refuse him once—twice; it will all be to go over again and again, until you end by accepting him."
"Oh, Aunt Marcelle!" protested the young girl, with little flush of righteous wrath.
"After all," continued the elder lady, ignoring her interruption, "are you so very sure that—that it would not do? There are many worse men in the world than Sylvester. Both my husbands were profligates, in addition to being fools. At any rate, this dear Charles is very correct. And remember, the poor man is really in love with you."
"I know," said Mary plaintively; "that is why I am so sorry. He is a good man, a conscientious man, and a gentleman; and really, sometimes lately, he has been quite simple and nice. Only——"
Lady Garnett completed the sentence for her with an impartial shrug.
"Only he is perfectly ridiculous, and as a lover quite impossible? My dear, I grant it you with all my heart, and I think he has all the qualities which make an excellent husband."
As the young girl was still silent, unconvinced, she went on after a little while:
"You know, Mary, I have never tried to marry you. Frankly, my dear, I do not believe very much in pushing marriages. My own, and most others that I have known intimately, might have been very reasonably made—let us say—in purgatory. But a girl must marry some time or other, if she be rich. And you will have plenty of money, my poor child! You shall do exactly as you please, but I must admit that Charles is a most unobjectionable parti. After all, there is only one other man I would sooner give you to, Mary, and he is impossible."
"Aunt Marcelle! Aunt Marcelle!" pleaded the young girl faintly, her dark head bent very low now over the arm of the chair.