girl may do what she likes with herself in
that way. If I choose to decline to take anything that is pleasant,
and nice, and comfortable, nobody has a right to scold me. And I
won't be scolded."

"But, my child, who is scolding you?"

"You mean to scold me. But it is of no use. The man has gone, and
there is an end of it. Nothing that you can say or I can think will
bring him back again. I don't want anybody to tell me that it would
be better to be Lady Peterborough, with everything that the world has
to give, than to live here without a soul to speak to, and to have to
go back to those horrible islands next year. You can't think that I
am very comfortable."

"But what did you say to him, Nora?"

"What did I say to him? What could I say to him? Why didn't he ask me
to be his wife without saying anything about love? He asked me if I
loved him. Of course I don't love him. I would have said I did, but
it stuck in my throat. I am willing enough, I believe, to sell myself
to the devil, but I don't know how to do it. Never mind. It's done,
and now I'll go to bed."

She did go to bed, and Mrs. Trevelyan explained to the two ladies as
much as was necessary of what had occurred. When Mrs. Stanbury came
to understand that the gentleman who had been closeted with her
would, probably, in a few months be a lord himself, that he was a
very rich man, a member of Parliament, and one of those who are
decidedly born with gold spoons in their mouths, and understood also
that Nora Rowley had refused him, she was lost in amazement. Mr.
Glascock was about forty years of age, and appeared to Nora Rowley,
who was nearly twenty years his junior, to be almost an old man.
But to Mrs. Stanbury, who was over sixty, Mr. Glascock seemed to be
quite in the flower of his age. The bald place at the top of his head
simply showed that he had passed his boyhood, and the grey hairs at
the back of his whiskers were no more than outward signs of manly
discretion. She could not understand why any girl should refuse such
an offer, unless the man were himself bad in morals, or in temper.
But Mrs. Trevelyan had told her while Nora and Mr. Glascock were
closeted together, that he was believed by them all to be good and
gentle. Nevertheless she felt a considerable increase of respect for
a young lady who had refused the eldest son of a lord. Priscilla,
when she heard what had occurred, expressed to her mother a moderated
approval. According to her views a g