"Ah, I've heard a great many girls talk like that beforehand," she
answered at once with her society glibness; "but when the right man
turned up, they soon forgot their protestations. It makes a lot of
difference, dear, when a man really asks you!"
Herminia bent her head. "You misunderstand me," she replied. "I
don't mean to say I will never fall in love. I expect to do that.
I look forward to it frankly,--it is a woman's place in life. I
only mean to say, I don't think anything will ever induce me to
marry,--that is to say, legally."
Mrs. Dewsbury gave a start of surprise and horror. She really
didn't know what girls were coming to nowadays,--which, considering
her first principles, was certainly natural. But if only she had
seen the conscious flush with which Herminia received her visitor
that afternoon, she would have been confirmed in her belief that
Herminia, after all, in spite of her learning, was much like other
girls. In which conclusion Mrs. Dewsbury would not in the end have
been fully justified.
When Alan arrived, Herminia sat at the window by the quaintly
clipped box-tree, a volume of verse held half closed in her hand,
though she was a great deal too honest and transparent to pretend
she was reading it.
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