"But why can it not be? Surely, Miss Fox, I may ask you to give me some reason for that."
The gentleman thought—"What a strange girl you are!" While the lady was thinking—"What a difference there is between an artificial man and a natural one!"
"What o'clock is it, by that time-piece, if you please, Sir Henry Haggerstone?"
"Half-past two, within about two minutes."
"Thank you; can you tell me why it isn't half-past ten? Just because it isn't. And so now you understand."
"I am sorry to say, that I do not very clearly. Probably it is very stupid of me. But can you not give me a little hope, Miss Fox?"
"Yes, a great deal; and with my best wishes. There are thousands of nice girls, a thousand times nicer than I ever was, who would say 'yes,' in a minute."
"But the only one, whose 'yes' I want, says 'no,' in less than half a minute!"
"To be sure, she does—and means it all over; but begs to offer no end of thanks."
"Perhaps it is all for the best," he thought as he rode homeward slowly; "she is a very sweet girl; but of late she seems to have grown so fond of slang expressions—all very well for a man, but not at all what I like in a woman. I should have been compelled to break her of that trick; and even the sweetest tempered woman hates to be corrected."