“Why is it that Mrs. Mechlin does not approve of my being engaged to Clarence?”
“Because she had set her heart upon your marrying Gunther, who is a great favorite of hers.”
“I am sorry to disappoint her, for she has been so sweet and good to me, but I can't help it. Here are the letters I got from home. I'll leave them for you to read, and you let me have yours. I hear George coming up stairs, I must go to my room.”
“Well, pussy, haven't you had a nice frolic at Newport?” said George, stopping Mercedes at the door and making her come back into the room again.
“Indeed I have,” Mercedes answered.
“And haven't you broken hearts as if they were old cracked pottery?”
“They must have been, to be broken so easily. But I guess I didn't hurt any very much.”
“Indeed you did. Besides Gunther and Selden who are given up as incurable, there are three or four others very badly winged. Poor fellows, and friends of mine, too. It is like an epidemic, uncle says.”
“Clarence will soon be here and stop the epidemic from spreading any further,” Elvira said.
“I don't know about that. But I am glad he is coming. When will he be here?”