'I came here to talk, perhaps of love, and now, by Jove, it seems we are quarrelling!'
His face expressed this and the pain her words gave him; and Bella, ever a creature of impulse, felt that she was froward, petulant, and foolishly irritable; but his mother's haughty manner had stung her keenly more than once that night.
Jerry sighed and rose from his seat.
'Pardon me,' said she, in her sweet, low voice, and with an upward glance of her light brown eyes that was irresistible; 'I know that I am very cross with you, and—and I don't know why.'
'Miss Chevenix——'
'Call me Bella!' said she, impetuously, as she bit the feathers of her fan.
'Oh, Bella, you know not how I am situated with regard to you!' he began, as he thought of the mortgages.
'Oh, I understand it precisely,' said she, flushing deeply. 'You are very fond of me, perhaps—admire me very much, of course; but it is an affair of proud relations—high position in the county on the one hand, and the granddaughter of the farmer of Langley Park on the other—that is it? So let us drop our acting; you your mock love-making——'
'Mock love-making!' he exclaimed, sorrowfully and reproachfully.
'Yes; and I shall drop my flirty way. And now let us go back to the dancers; I want papa, and wish to go home.'