'And now?'
'He loves me still, I have no doubt.'
'Do you mean to marry him?'
'He has never asked me.'
'Well, if he did—or does ask you?'
'I don't know about that,' said Annot, as with deft little fingers she finished and pinned her golden coil.
'Why so?'
'Oh, cousin Hester, how inquisitive you are! I like him immensely. He says openly that he can't stand the London girls; that they are all very well to flirt with, dance, drive, and talk with; but he wants a wife who in her own sweet person will combine all the charms of fashionable and domestic life, like me. But then he is so poor; has little more than his pay. I can't fancy being poorer than I am—love in a cottage is all bosh, you know; but I have promised him——'
'What?'
'To think about it; but I won't be bound by promises, Hester. When I marry I want to be rich. I must have a carriage, beautiful horses, diamonds and dresses, for I have no dot of my own. Marry for love, indeed! No, no, Bob, dear. Who in these days does anything so absurd as that? It is as much out of fashion as chivalry, duels, and periwigs.'