“I am sure she has enjoyed your society very much,” said I, ironically.
And she blushed and averted her face with a self-conscious expression upon it that filled me with delight.
However, I don’t think my aunt wanted her. The good lady was very gloomy, and quite impenetrable to the attacks of cheerfulness. When we entered the house, we caught her helping a servant to pack a hamper, which she boldly avowed was for her daughter; and the moment the servant left the room she exclaimed,
“My daughter shan’t be starved by that man.”
Here was prejudice!
“Starved!” I cried; “why, poor fellow, he worships her.”
“And so he ought. But all young men of his kind are intolerably selfish and never think of their wives’ necessities, so long as their own are supplied.”
“Why his kind particularly?” asked Theresa, with a glance at me.
“Because he is not a gentleman,” answered my aunt.
Nothing but time will cure this stubbornness, I thought, turning away.