Shedroppedintoaseatbesideherdressing—table，restingherchinonherliftedhands，andlaughingoutathimundertheelf—lockwhichhadshakenitselfdownoverhereyes。
Heroutburstdidnotoffendtheyoungman；itsimmediateeffectwasthatofallayinghisagitation。Thetheatricaltouchinhermannermadehisoffenseseemmorevenialthanhehadthoughtitamomentbefore。
Hedrewupachairandsatdownbesideher。\"Afterall，\"hesaid，inatoneofgood—humouredprotest，\"Ineedn’thavetoldyouI’dkeptbackyourletter；andmytellingyouseemsratherstrongproofthatIhadn’tanyverynefariousdesignsonyou。\"
Shemetthiswithashrug，buthedidnotgivehertimetoanswer。\"Mydesigns，\"hecontinuedwithasmile，\"werenotnefarious。Isawyou’dbeenthroughabadtimewithMrs。
Murrett，andthattheredidn’tseemtobemuchfunaheadforyou；andIdidn’tsee——andIdon’tyetsee——theharmoftryingtogiveyouafewhoursofamusementbetweenadepressingpastandanotparticularlycheerfulfuture。\"Hepausedagain，andthenwenton，inthesametoneoffriendlyreasonableness：\"ThemistakeImadewasnottotellyouthisatonce——nottoaskyoustraightouttogivemeadayortwo，andletmetrytomakeyouforgetallthethingsthataretroublingyou。IwasafoolnottoseethatifI’dputittoyouinthatwayyou’dhaveacceptedorrefused，asyouchose；butthatatleastyouwouldn’thavemistakenmyintentions。——Intentions！\"Hestoodup，walkedthelengthoftheroom，andturnedbacktowhereshestillsatmotionless，herelbowsproppedonthedressing—table，herchinonherhands。\"Whatrubbishwetalkaboutintentions！ThetruthisIhadn’tany：Ijustlikedbeingwithyou。Perhapsyoudon’tknowhowextraordinarilyonecanlikebeingwithyou……Iwasdepressedandadriftmyself；andyoumademeforgetmybothers；andwhenIfoundyouweregoing——andgoingbacktodreariness，asIwas——Ididn’tseewhyweshouldn’thaveafewhourstogetherfirst；soIleftyourletterinmypocket。\"