“You didn’t show him that you thought even that,” Lavinia again interposed.

“You are a chit and a little idiot,” returned Bella, “or you wouldn’t make such a dolly speech. What did you expect me to do? Wait till you are a woman, and don’t talk about what you don’t understand. You only show your ignorance!” Then, whimpering again, and at intervals biting the curls, and stopping to look how much was bitten off, “It’s a shame! There never was such a hard case! I shouldn’t care so much if it wasn’t so ridiculous. It was ridiculous enough to have a stranger coming over to marry me, whether he liked it or not. It was ridiculous enough to know what an embarrassing meeting it would be, and how we never could pretend to have an inclination of our own, either of us. It was ridiculous enough to know I shouldn’t like him⁠—how could