'I have been a fool!' exclaimed Jerry, bitterly, as he twisted his dark moustache and betrayed considerable emotion, at least for him.
'Oh, no,' said Mrs. Trelawney, patting his shoulder with her fan. 'You are no worse than other men. You could not help it, if I was silly enough to be—shall I say it?—amused, perhaps pleased, by all your tender speeches, though I could not believe in them.'
Jerry stared at her in doubt whether to be indignant or not, but again her beauty and espieglerie of manner triumphed.
'Oh, Laura, once again,' he was resuming, when she interrupted him—
'I know all you would say, but please not to renew this subject, or I shall lose all faith in you, Captain Wilmot.'
'Say "Jerry,"' he urged.
'Well, then, Jerry, I like you very much,' she said, coquettishly, and with an infinite sweetness of tone; 'but I shall be sorry if your persistence makes me view you differently.'
'If you like me so very much, why cannot you marry me? You would like me ever so much more afterwards.'
'It is impossible,' said Mrs. Trelawney, smiling openly now.
'Why are you so hard-hearted?'