"
"She told me very calmly that she was sorry that I had said what I
did."
"But do women always mean what they say, brother?" said Humphrey.
"She does, at all events," replied Edward; "she is truth itself. No, I
can not deceive myself. She feels a deep debt of gratitude for the
service I rendered her; and that prevented her from being more harsh
in her reply than what she was."
"But if she knew that you were Edward Beverley, do you not think it
would make a difference in her?"
"And if it did, it would be too humiliating to think that I was only
married for my rank and station."
"But, considering you of mean birth, may she not have checked those
feelings which she considered under the circumstances improper to
indulge?"
"Where there is such a sense of propriety there can be little
affection."
"I know nothing about these things, Edward," replied Humphrey; "but I
have been told that a woman's heart is not easily read; or if I have
not been told it, I have read it or dreamed it."
"What do you propose to do?"
"What I fear you will not approve of, Humphrey; it is to break up our
establishment altogether. If the answer is favorable from the Misses
Conynghame my sisters shall go to them; but that we had agreed upon
already.
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