"
"If I gave my attention to what?" I interrupted sullenly.
"You understand me very well--if you wished, you could make yourself
very comfortable. Some of the best chances which the city affords are
within your reach; other girls would not need to have them pointed out
so."
"I suppose you mean marriage!" I said indifferently. "Well, there is
just this difference between me and other girls, on this point, _I_
shall never choose matrimony as the lesser of two evils. I shall never
seek it as a refuge, nor grasp it as a ready alternative; _I_ have
been brought up to look upon it as a sacrament, of course, I must
allow for that," I added pointedly.
"That is a very high-sounding principle indeed," she replied, "but it
can hardly be applied just now. You can't help the issues of fate, and
if you were worthy of men's special admiration and love before this, I
suppose a change in your condition, or in the outward circumstances
that affect you but indirectly, can make no difference--" She stopped,
and after an effective pause added, "It will make none to Arthur
Campbell, anyway, of that I am sure."
"Arthur Campbell has never asked me to become his wife," I broke in
emphatically.
"That is your own fault. You have not given him proper encouragement."
"No, because I am not at all certain that I would accept him."
"Then you are a fool," she cried out warmly and indignantly, "and you
deserve your lot. He is everything that one could wish, as far as
wealth and appearance, and family and rank, are concerned.
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