"I regret to say I don't remember just now. I hope it was nothing very serious."
To his astonishment she looked down at her fan, and spoke in a slightly lowered voice:—
"I told you that I wanted to be improved."
It must be confessed that he was mollified. There was a softness in her manner which amazed him. He was at once embarrassed and delighted. But, at the same time, it would not do to commit himself to too great a seriousness.
"Oh!" he answered, "that was a rather good joke, I thought."
"No, it wasn't," she said, perhaps even half a tone lower. "I was in earnest."
Then she raised her eyes.
"If you told me when I did any thing wrong, I think it might be a good thing," she said.
He felt that this was quite possible, and was also struck with the idea that he might find the task of mentor—so long as he remained entirely non-committal—rather interesting. Still, he could not afford to descend at once from the elevated stand he had taken.
"I am afraid you would find it rather tiresome," he remarked.