ble opposite to mine. There was a brief interval of
silence, after which he said:--

"I imagine that you have a shrewd suspicion of the object of my early
visit; but I suppose I must go into particulars. Must I?"

"I have no conception," I replied, "what your object may be."

"Well, well," said he becoming more at his ease as he proceeded, "it
may be told in a few words. You know that it is totally impossible,
quite out of the question, that an off-hand young fellow like me, and
a good-looking girl like yourself, could meet continually as you and
I have done, without an attachment--a liking growing up on one side or
other; in short, I think I have let you know as plainly as if I spoke
it, that I have been in love with you, almost from the first time
I saw you." He paused, but I was too much horrified to speak. He
interpreted my silence favourably. "I can tell you," he continued,
"I'm reckoned rather hard to please, and very hard to _hit_. I can't
say when I was taken with a girl before, so you see fortune reserved
me--."

Here the odious wretch actually put his arm round my waist: the
action at once restored me to utterance, and with the most indignant
vehemence I released myself from his hold, and at the same time
said:--

"I _have_, sir, of course, perceived your most disagreeable
attentions; they have long been a source of great annoyance to me; and
you must be aware that I have marked my disapprobation, my disgust, as
unequivocally as I possibly could, without actual indelicacy."

I paused, almost out of breath from the rapidity with which I had
spoken; and without giving him time to renew the conversation, I
hastily quitted the room, leaving him in a paroxysm of rage and
mortification. As I ascended the stairs, I heard him open the
parlour-door with violence, and take two or three rapid strides in the
direction in which I was moving. I was now much frightened, and ran
the whole way until I reached my room, and having locked the door, I
listened breathlessly, but heard no sound. This relieved me for
the present; but so much had I been overcome by the agitation and
annoyance attendant upon the scene which I had just passed through,
that when my cousin Emily knocked at the door, I was weeping in great
agitation. You will readily conceive my distress, when you reflect
upon my strong dislike to my cousin Edward, combined with my youth and
extreme inexperience. Any proposal of such a nature must have agitated
me;