She had long ere this been made perfectly aware that love and marriage were objects of all his attention, yet she amused herself with him by her coquettish œillades and waggish speeches.
'Finella,' said he, in a low and hesitating voice, as he stooped over her, 'I hope that with all your flouting, and pretty, flippant mode of treating me, you will see your way to carry out the fondest desire of my heart and that of our grandparents.'
'Such a fearfully elaborate speech! And the object to which I am to see my way is to marry you, cousin Shafto?'
'Yes,' said he, bending nearer to her half-averted ear.
'Thanks very much, dear Shafto; but I couldn't think of such a thing.'
'Why? Am I so distasteful to you?'
'Not at all; but for cogent reasons of my own.'
'And these are?'
'Firstly, people should marry to please themselves, not others. Grandpapa and grandmamma did, and so shall I; and I am quite independent enough to do as I please and choose.'
'In short, you will not or cannot love me?'