"Why, Minny, I am old enough, I am sure."
"Yes, but you seem so very young; no one thinks about your being married yet."
"Mother does."
"Not to this man, Miss Della. For worlds I wouldn't dictate; but, Miss, if all this secresy and deceit ends as it seems it will, isn't it going to break your mother's heart?"
"I expect so, Minny; every mother's heart is broken when her daughter gets married; but it heals up always, and is as good as ever."
Oh! Della, Della!
"But, Miss, when she finds how deceitful you have been, after all her doting kindness, and love, and—"
"Don't be tiresome, Minny. Deceitful! oh, that's awful—you know I never was deceitful."
"No, no! There, don't cry! Call it secresy or anything; but when it is discovered, I say, think what a house of misery this will be."