"You would never give your hand without your
heart, I am sure."
"Heaven forbid," was the reply.
"Not even to a coronet?"
"Not even to a crown."
So far so good; but Miss Fountain went on to say that the heart was
not the only thing to be consulted in a matter so important as
marriage.
"It is the only thing I would ever consult," said Eve. As Lucy did not
reply, Eve asked her next what she would do if she loved a poor man.
Lucy replied coldly that it was not her present intention to love
anybody but her relations; that she should never love any gentleman
until she had been married to him, or, correcting herself, at all
events, been some time engaged to him, and she should certainly never
engage herself to anyone who would not rather improve her position in
society than deteriorate it. Eve met these pretty phrases with a look
of contempt, as much as to say, "While you speak I am putting all that
into plain vulgar English." The other did not seem to notice it. "To
leave this interesting topic for a while," said she, languidly, "let
me consult you, Miss Dodd. I have not, as you may have noticed, great
abilities, but I have received an excellent education. To say nothing
of those _soi-disant_ accomplishments with which we adorn and
sometimes weary society, my dear mother had me well grounded in
languages and history. Without being eloquent, I have a certain
fluency, in which, they tell me, even members of Parliament are
deficient, smoothly as their speeches read made into English by the
newspapers.
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