“Would he not have preferred your waiting on the sands till he could join you again?”
“I did not ask him! I should think he would hardly care for me to watch him whilst bathing, and I am sure I should not consent to do so!”
“But everybody does it here, Elinor, and if you did not care to go down to the beach, you might have waited for him on the Digue.”
“My dear Margaret, I am not in the habit of dancing attendance upon men. It is their business to come after me! If Ralph is eager for another walk after his dip, he can easily call for me here!”
“True! and he can as easily go for his walk with any stray acquaintance he may pick up on the sands!”
“O! if he should prefer it, he is welcome to do so,” replied Elinor, resuming her scribbling.
“My dear Elinor, I don’t think you quite understand Ralph! He has been terribly spoilt, you know, and when men have been accustomed to attention they will take it wherever they can get it! He has come over here expressly to be with you, so I think you should give him every minute of your time. Men are fickle creatures, my dear! It will take some time yet to despoil them of the idea that women were made for their convenience.”
“I am afraid the man is not born yet for whose convenience I was made!”
“Well! you know the old saying: ‘Most women can catch a man, but it takes a clever woman to keep him.’ I don’t mean to insinuate that you are in any danger of losing Ralph, but I think he’s quite worth keeping, and, I believe, you think so too!”
“And I mean to keep him!” replied Miss Leyton, as she went on writing.