"People asked me to marry them!" said Mara. "I hope not. What an odd question!"
"You know what I mean," said Moses; "you have had offers of marriage—from Mr. Adams, for example."
"And what if I have?"
"You did not accept him, Mara?" said Moses.
"No, I did not."
"And yet he was a fine man, I am told, and well fitted to make you happy."
"I believe he was," said Mara, quietly.
"And why were you so foolish?"
Mara was fretted at this question. She supposed Moses had come to tell her of his engagement to Sally, and that this was a kind of preface, and she answered,—
"I don't know why you call it foolish. I was a true friend to Mr. Adams. I saw intellectually that he might have the power of making any reasonable woman happy. I think now that the woman will be fortunate who becomes his wife; but I did not wish to marry him."