is also right."

"Tell me, Cary--tell me out of pity; I am too weak to be tantalized."

"You shall be tantalized--it will do you no harm; you are not so weak as
you pretend."

"I have twice this evening had some thoughts of falling on the floor at
your feet."

"You had better not. I shall decline to help you up."

"And worshipping you downright. My mother was a Roman Catholic. You look
like the loveliest of her pictures of the Virgin. I think I will embrace
her faith and kneel and adore."

"Robert, Robert, sit still; don't be absurd. I will go to Hortense if
you commit extravagances."

"You have stolen my senses. Just now nothing will come into my mind but
_les litanies de la sainte Vierge. Rose celeste, reine des anges_!"

"_Tour d'ivoire, maison d'or_--is not that the jargon? Well, sit down
quietly, and guess your riddle."

"But 'mamma' charmed--there's the puzzle."

"I'll tell you what mamma said when I told her. 'Depend upon it, my
dear, such a choice will make the happiness of Miss Keeldar's life.'"

"I'll guess once, and no more. It is old Helstone. She is going to be
your aunt."

"I'll tell my uncle; I'll tell Shirley!" cried Caroline, laughing
gleefully. "Guess again, Robert; your blunders are charming."

"It is the parson--Hall."

"Indeed, no; he is mine, if you please."

"Yours! Ay, the whole generation of women in Briarfield seem to have
made an idol of that priest. I wonder why; he is bald, sand-blind,
gray-haired."

"Fanny will be here to fetch me before you have solved the riddle, if
you don't make haste."

"I'll guess no more--I am tired; and then I don't care. Miss Keeldar may
marry _le grand Turc_ for me."

"Must I whisper?"

"That you must, and quickly. Here comes Hortense; come near, a little
nearer, my own Lina. I care for the whisper more than the words."

She whispered. Robert gave a start, a flash of the eye, a brief laugh.
Miss Moore entered, and Sarah followed behind, with information that
Fanny was come. The hour of converse was over.

Robert found a moment to exchange a few more whispered sentences. He was
waiting at the foot of the staircase as Caroline descended after putting
on her shawl.

"Must I call Shirley a noble creature now?" he asked.

"If you wish to speak the truth, certainly."

"Must I forgive her?"

"Forgive her? Naughty Robert! Was she in the wrong, or were you?"

"Must I at length love her downright, Cary?"

Caroline looked keenly up, and ma