“Well, that’s comforting. I’ll stay, then. The dislike of Northerners seems to be a strong trait in your family, Miss Holly.”
“Oh, some Northerners are quite nice,” she answered, with a challenging glance.
“I wonder,” he asked, with intense diffidence, “I wonder—if I’m included among the quite nice ones?”
“What do you think, Mr. Winthrop?”
“Well, I’ve always thought rather well of myself until I came to Corunna. But now that I have learned just how poor a lot Northerners are, I find myself rather more modest.”
Winthrop sighed depressedly.
“I’ll change it,” said Holly, her eyes dancing. “I’ll say instead that one Northerner is very nice.”
“You said ‘quite nice’ before.”
“That just shows that I like you better every minute,” laughed the girl.
Winthrop sighed.