IN THE AMERICAN COLONY.
generation! Was this woman very cruel to him that you resent it so?”
“Resent it!” said Martha, dropping her companion’s hand, to clasp her own hands together. “Even to you I can’t talk about that. I should either cry like a fool or rage like a fury. I know very little about what happened, except that she has utterly ruined Harold’s life, and cut him off from everything that makes life sweet.”
“You allow yourself to suffer too much for him, perhaps,” the princess said. “I am not going to antagonize you at the outset by saying all that I might say to you on this subject, but believe me, my little ingénue, I could give you points about men. I will not do it now, however, and I will even show my willingness to spare you by changing the subject. Tell me about Alice. Is she really so handsome? Does she go into society? Where could one see her?”
“Yes; she goes out a good deal—in the American colony, principally. I don’t think there is any doubt that she’s handsome.”
“Then I’m all the more unfortunate in having no acquaintance in the American colony. Does she look like you?”
“No; the fact is—” Martha blushed, and was in evident confusion, as she went on—“the fact is, I’m considered like Harold. Not really, you know, because no one can deny that he’s magnificent; but there’s said to be a sort of family likeness.”