"Was that the impudent message you spoke of?" she asked.
"Yes."
"Then I don't see what impudence there is in it."
"What right had he to call you Bessie?"
"Don't you call me Bessie?"
"That's different—I am your cousin."
"Well, I call him Gilbert. So we're even."
"He had no right to send you his love. It isn't proper."
"Really, Maurice, I ought to be very much obliged to you for taking such good care of me, and teaching me what's proper, and what isn't. But, if you don't think the message a proper one, what made you give it to me?" she asked, smiling.
"I wish I hadn't," thought Maurice, who began to see that he had been hurried by his anger into making a mistake.