"Indeed, sir," exclaimed Mrs. Montresor, evidently rather annoyed by her nephew's indifference; "I should not be surprised if Adelaide should one day ask to be excused from marrying you."
"Good gracious!" cried young Mortimer, playing with his watch chain; "do you think my cousin is not very violently in love with me?"
"Violently in love with you? coxcomb! But, joking apart, really, Mortimer, you are the coldest, most unpoetical, soulless creature I ever met with."
"My dear aunt," said Mortimer, apologetically, "I will freely own that I am not a very sentimental person. But what of that? My intended marriage with my cousin, Adelaide, is by no means a romantic affair. In the first place, Augustus Horton and I are partners. My marriage with his sister is therefore advisable, on the ground of commercial interests. That is reason number one, not very romantic to begin with. Reason number two is this; you have two nephews and one niece; you wish your favorite nephew (meaning me) to marry your niece, in order that one of these days, having no children of your own, you may leave them the bulk of your fortune. There's nothing particularly romantic in this. You say to the two young people, 'Marry,' and the two young people say, 'Very well, we're agreeable!' and behold the business is settled. Very advisable, and very proper, no doubt, but not a subject for romance, my dear aunt."
"Bah, Mortimer, you're incorrigible; but I know that at the bottom of your heart you're very much in love with your pretty cousin, notwithstanding your pretending indifference."
"Come, then, my best of aunts. Forgive your most perverse of nephews, and answer me one question, for the benefit of Gilbert Margrave here, who has been bewitched by one of the lilies of your ball-room."
"Indeed, and pray who is the lady?"
"That is the very question we want you to answer," replied Mortimer, leading his aunt to the curtained doorway of the ball-room. "See, there she is, that dark-eyed girl, talking to my cousin Adelaide."
"That is Miss Leslie."
"What Miss Leslie?"