fortunately."

"My dear little girl, you are entirely too chivalrous and confiding
where your feelings are engaged. What if I were to assure that this plan
had been agitated?"

"I should think you had been deceived, or that you were deceiving me,
one or the other. I should not _believe_ you, that would be all. You
understand me now, Mr. Bainrothe; there are no purer people than the
Stanburys--I wish every one was half as good and true."

"Old Gerald at the head of them, I suppose?" with a sneer and a
kaleidoscopic glance.

"Mr. Gerald Stanbury at the head of them," I reiterated firmly, adding:
"These are friends of mine, Mr. Bainrothe; it hurts and offends me to
hear them lightly discussed. If I am sent away from home to break off my
affection for them, the measure is a vain one, for I shall returned
unchanged."

"Yes, but with enlarged views, I trust, Miriam," he rejoined,
pertinaciously. "See how Evelyn was improved by her two years at school;
besides, how would you ever increase your circle of acquaintances here,
studying alone, or even with your shy disposition, at a day-school?"

"I am sent from home, then, to make acquaintances it seems, and to
prepare for my _début_ into society? Very well, I shall not forget that;
but pray, what particular advantage in this respect does a
country-school present?"