"'I tell every woman I know that I am not a marrying man,' he replied.
"'That,' I said, 'does not signify as long as you act the lover, each fair one believing you will revoke in her favor.'
"'I give you my honor,' he exclaimed, 'as a man and a gentleman, I never entertained for twenty-four hours the idea of marrying any woman I ever knew.'"
"The villain!" exclaimed the lady. "I hope, Pierce, you told him he was a villain!"
"No; because I knew the uncertainty of his disposition: but I lectured him fully and honestly, and yet said nothing to him so severe as what he said of himself. I told him he would certainly be caught in the end by some unworthy person, and then he would look back with regret and misery upon the chances he had lost, and the unhappiness he had caused to those whose only faults had been in believing him true when he was false."
"'Better that,' he answered, 'than marrying when he could not make up his mind.'
"'Then why play the lover?'
"'He only did so while infatuated—he was certain to find faults where he imagined perfection.'"
"What assurance!" said Mrs. Pierce Bradshaw.
"'I am sure,' I said, 'Lelia was very charming. Lelia Medwin was an excellent, amiable little creature, with both good temper and good sense.'