“Did you know that Mary refused an offer of marriage from Walter Green last week?”
“Why no! It can't be possible! Refused Walter Green?”
“They've been intimate for a long time.”
“I know.”
“She certainly encouraged him.”
“I think it more than probable.”
“Is it possible, then, that she did really jilt the young man?” exclaimed Aunt Rachel.
“This has been said of her,” I replied. “But so far as I can learn, she was really attached to him, and suffered great pain in rejecting his offer. Wisely she regarded marriage as the most important event of her life, and refused to make so solemn a contract with one in whose principles she had not the fullest confidence.”
“But she ought not to have encouraged Walter, if she did not intend marrying him,” said Aunt Rachel, with some warmth.
“She encouraged him so long as she thought well of him. A closer view revealed points of character hidden by distance. When she saw these her feelings were already deeply involved. But, like a true woman, she turned from the proffered hand, even though while in doing so her heart palpitated with pain. There is nothing false about Mary Lane. She could no more trifle with a lover than she could commit a crime. Think, then, how almost impossible it would be for her to hear herself called, under existing circumstances, even in sport, a jilt, without being hurt. Words sometimes have power to hurt more than blows. Do you not see this, now, Aunt Rachel?”