"Engaged, indeed!" said the lady to the servant, tossing her head. "I'm never engaged to a neighbor."
The servant repeated the words.
"Be engaged again, if she calls," said Mr. Leland, when his wife mentioned the remark of her visitor. "It will raise an effectual barrier between you."
Some serious conversation was had with Jane that day by her mother, but Jane was by no means submissive.
"Your father positively forbids any farther intimacy between you and Mary Halloran. I shall have nothing more to do with her mother."
Jane met this declaration with a passionate gush of tears, and an intimation that she was not prepared to sacrifice the friendship of Mary, whom she believed to be quite as good as herself.
"It must be done, Jane. Your father has the best of reasons for desiring it, and I hope you will not think for a moment of opposing his wishes."
"He doesn't know Mary as I know her. His prejudices have no foundation in truth," said Jane.
"No matter how pure she may be," replied the mother, "she has already introduced you into bad company. A virtuous young lady should blush to be seen in the street with the man who came home with you to-day."
"Who, Mr. Clement?" inquired Jane.