d tenderness and passion in every lineament. I quailed momentarily- then I rallied. Soft scene, daring demonstration, I would not have; and I stood in peril of both: a weapon of defence must be prepared- I whetted my tongue: as he reached me, I asked with asperity, 'whom he was going to marry now?'
'That was a strange question to be put by his darling Jane.'
'Indeed! I considered it a very natural and necessary one: he had talked of his future wife dying with him. What did he mean by such a pagan idea? I had no intention of dying with him- he might depend on that.'
'Oh, all he longed, all he prayed for, was that I might live with him! Death was not for such as I.'
'Indeed it was: I had as good a right to die when my time came as he had: but I should bide that time, and not be hurried away in a suttee.'
'Would I forgive him for the selfish idea, and prove my pardon by a reconciling kiss?'
'No: I would rather be excused.'
Here I heard myself apostrophised as a 'hard little thing'; and it was added, 'any other woman would have been melted to marrow at hearing such stanzas crooned in her praise.'
I assured him I was naturally hard- very flinty, and that he would often find me so; and that, moreover, I was determined to show him divers rugged points in my character before the ensuing four weeks elapsed: he should know fully what sort of a bargain he had made, while there was yet time to rescind it.
'Would I be quiet and talk rationally?'
'I would be quiet if he liked, and as to talking rationally, I flattered myself I was doing that now.'
He fretted, pished, and pshawed. 'Very good,' I thought; 'you may fume and fidget as you please: but this is the best plan to pursue with you, I am certain. I like you more than I can say; but I'll not sink into a bathos of sentiment: and with this needle of repartee I'll keep you from the edge of the gulf too; and, moreover, maintain by its pungent aid that distance between you and myself most conducive to our real mutual advantage.'
F
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