"One reason."
"He would be a very good parti; only a little too old, perhaps."
"What are you thinking of? I shall not let that child get entangled for years." He said, almost angrily.
"What has Mr. Bovyer done?" I inquired, a good deal mystified.
"You are too young to have everything explained. I want you to keep your child's heart for a good many years yet."
"What a pity young people cannot keep the child's heart until they get some good out of life. Not begin at once with its storms and passions," Mrs. Flaxman remarked, in a moralizing tone.
"Do you mean falling in love, Mrs. Flaxman?"
"Possibly that was what I meant, but it is to be a tabooed topic with you for some years yet, Mr. Winthrop decides."
"You have been unusually fortunate in that respect, Mr. Winthrop. I used to think every one fell in love before they came to your age." Mrs. Flaxman glanced at him with a pained, startled look which I did not understand. I noticed that his face though grave was unruffled; but he made me no reply.
I could not explain the reason, but I felt grieved that I had made the remark, and slipped quietly out of the room without my usual good-night.