'When I was a big boy in knickerbockers, and you were a little girl in short frocks, we used to be like Paul and Virginia in the Wilmot Woods.'
'Well, Paul and Virginia have grown up, and the young lady has come to her senses.'
'If the gentleman has not.'
'He has come to his senses too, and has his eyes very wide open indeed.'
'She is referring to those infernal mortgages,' thought Jerry (which was the case), 'and how shall I ever undeceive her?'
'In our boy and girl time you would have trusted me,' he urged.
'Perhaps, but I did not know you as I do now, and the world you live in.'
'The past, Bella——'
'Is past, Captain Wilmot; let us not refer to it again. I do not understand you.'
'May I—can I—dare I explain?' he began, impetuously.