play the
_grande dame_ so well, that you are sure to reap the penalty of it.
Forbear, I warn you, before it is too late. I know of what I speak. I
have been a gentleman for years, and I am acquainted with all the ins
and outs of the calling. It is a poor one; avoid it. But you will pardon
this somewhat lengthy monologue. I have kept you from your supper.
Good-night. Come, Ike."

As I tripped across the street, with all the grace and elegance at my
command, I could not resist the temptation to look once over my
shoulder. Mr. Prime stood watching me just where I had left him, and he
raised his hat as he caught my eye, with the style of a cavalier
saluting his mistress. A pretty way forsooth, thought I, for an
aristocratic banker to part from his hired clerk! But I felt sure that
my secret was safe.

Our relations were from this day on a different footing, or rather it
was apparent to me that Mr. Prime was very partial to my society. I
remember that he asked me to walk with him on the following Sunday, and
we spent the beautiful spring morning in sauntering about the Park. I
felt a little sorry for my companion that I should have to appear so
unfashionably attired, but I did not dare to do otherwise. He seemed
wholly indifferent to the circumstance, however, and I think the hours
flew by too quickly for us both. I ascribed my own sensations of
happiness to the loveliness of the weather.

So too it became of frequent occurrence for Mr. Prime to bring me
flowers or books, and our Sunday stroll was repeated again and again. As
the weather grew more balmy we substituted for it expeditions to the
various resorts in the environs of the city, where we could catch a
whiff of the ocean breeze, or refresh our eyes with a glimpse of the
green country. These days were so pleasant to me that I avoided thinking
what was to be the outcome of them. They could not last forever.
Already Aunt Helen's letters expressed an alarm at my long absence,
which I was only too well aware I should soon find it impossible to
allay. My salvation was the fact that she believed Mr. Ferroll to be
still in town: I had failed to tell her of his departure for the West
about ten days after she left. To my letters to her, which were
necessarily laconic, I appended as an invariable postscript, "Not yet,"
by which she would understand that he had not yet put the decisive
question; and sometimes when I feared lest her patience might be
exhausted, I would add, "