“You were obliged to tell him,” repeated the boy angrily, between his teeth, and rudely pushing her away. “You were obliged to tell him! Do you know that he is worth fifty of you?”

“It may easily be so, Charley, but I cannot marry him.”

“You mean that you are conscious that you can’t appreciate him, and don’t deserve him, I suppose?”

“I mean that I do not like him, Charley, and that I will never marry him.”

“Upon my soul,” exclaimed the boy, “you are a nice picture of a sister! Upon my soul, you are a pretty piece of disinterestedness! And so all my endeavours to cancel the past and to raise myself in the world, and to raise you with me, are to be beaten down by your low whims; are they?”

“I will not reproach you, Charley.”