"You don't mean what you say, Diana!" cried her mother, turning upon her. "Don't you want to have pretty things, and a nice house, and furniture to suit you, and maybe servants to do your work? I wonder who's particular, if you ain't! Wouldn't you like a nice carriage?"
"I like all these things well enough, mother; but they are not the first thing."
"What is the first thing?" said Mrs. Starling shortly.
"I should say,—how I get them."
"Oh!—I thought you were going to say the man was the first thing.
That's the usual lingo."
Diana was silent again.
"Now you can have Will," her mother went on; "and he would be my very choice for you, Diana."
Diana made no response.
"He is smart; and he is good-lookin'; and he'll have a beautiful farm and a good deal of money ready laid up to begin with; and he's the sort to make it more and not make it less. And his mother is a first-rate woman. It's one of the best families in all Pleasant Valley."
"I would rather not marry either of 'em," said Diana, with a little half laugh again. "You know, mother, there are a great many nice people in the world. I can't have all of 'em."