“I have not made him happy, that is sure, and I am miserable, but you know mamma's feelings, what can I do? Oh, what can I do?” said she, putting her arms around her sister and the hot tears she had been repressing flowed fast. “I am so sorry I have to make him so unhappy.”
“I must say I feel sorry for him myself. I am not sure that mamma does him justice,” Elvira observed reflectively.
“And to think that papa himself told him to follow me.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes; and he is disappointed, but what can I do, dear, when mamma told me not to encourage him?”
“I certainly am under no pledge, and papa's authority is entitled to as much respect as mamma's,” Elvira said significantly.
“That is true, but you see mamma made me promise not to encourage him,” said Mercedes with sad insistence.
“Yes, and Rosa and Lota urged her to it. There is George now.”
“I will go to my room; they will see by my red eyes that I cried.”
“Go and bathe them. Drink some water, too, and come back.”