"How so?" I asked.
"You know how I stand with my family," she said.
"True, true," I observed; "and this must cause you great pain. However, I hope in time——"
"Never, never," she replied with a sigh.
"Oh, why not? Do you not wish to live happily with them?"
"Oh, how willingly!"
"Then let me see if I cannot make matters a little smooth for you. Perhaps——"
She shook her head doubtfully, and said, "I feel as if I did not belong to them nor they to me; in fact, I feel as if I never belonged to anybody, nor ever should."
"And never should!" exclaimed I. "Why, you do not mean to say that—that—you never intend to marry?"