Romance! Alas! there had been but one romance in her life, and that a
guilty one, which she must ever remember with remorse.
"Come now, confess you have not a gown ordered."
"I have gowns enough and to spare. Oh, sister! have you come so far to talk
of gowns? And that odious woman too! What brought her here?" Angela asked,
with more temper than she was wont to show.
"My sisterly kindness brought her. You are an ungrateful hussy for looking
vexed when I have come a score of miles through the dust to do you a
service."
"Ah, dearest, I am grateful to you for coming. But, alas! you are looking
pale and thin. Heaven forbid that you have been indisposed, and we in
ignorance of your suffering."
"No, I am well enough, though every one assures me I look ill; which is but
a civil mode of telling me I am growing old and ugly."
"Nay, Hyacinth, the former we must all become, with time; the latter you
will never be."
"Your servant, Sir Denzil, has taught you to pay antique compliments. Well,
now we will talk business. I had occasion to send for Lewin--my toilet was
in a horrid state of decay; and then it seemed to me, knowing your foolish
indifference, that even your wedding gown would not be chosen unless I
saw to it.
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