n you?"

"Certainly not. I wish you wouldn't talk about it any more."

"I certainly will not if it offends you. I would not offend you for all
the world. When you came up to town, Lady George, a few months ago,
there were three or four of us that soon became such excellent friends!
And now it seems that everything has gone wrong. I hope we need not
quarrel--you and I?"

"I know no reason why we should."

"I have liked you so much. I am sure you have known that. Sometimes one
does come across a person that one really likes; but it is so seldom."

"I try to like everybody," she said.

"I don't do that. I fear that at first starting I try to dislike
everybody. I think it is natural to hate people the first time you see
them."

"Did you hate me?" she asked, laughing.

"Oh, horribly,--for two minutes. Then you laughed, or cried, or
sneezed, or did something in a manner that I liked, and I saw at once
that you were the most charming human being in the world."

When a young man tells a young woman that she is the most charming
human being in the world, he is certainly using peculiar language. In
most cases the young man would be supposed to be making love to the
young woman. Mary, however, knew very well that Captain De Baron was
not making love to her. There seemed to be an understanding that all
manner of things should be said between them, and that yet they should
mean nothing. But, nevertheless, she felt that the language which this
man had used to her would be offensive to her husband if he knew that
it had been used when they two were alone together. Had it been said
before a room-full of people it would not have mattered. And yet she
could not rebuke him. She could not even look displeased. She had
believed all that he had said to her about Augusta Mildmay, and was
glad to believe it. She liked him so much, that she would have spoken
to him as to a brother of the nature of her quarrel with Mrs. Houghton,
only that, even to a brother, she would not have mentioned her
husband's folly. When he spoke of her crying, or laughing, or sneezing,
she liked the little attempt at drollery. She liked to know that he had
found her charming. Where is the woman who does not wish to charm, and
is not proud to think that she has succeeded with those whom she most
likes? She could not rebuke him. She could not even avoid letting him
see that she was pleased. "You have a dozen human beings in the world
who are the most delightfu