"neither can I think Miss Rivers guilty of it. At all events, I mean
to venture a little nearer," and before Carrie could frame a
reasonable excuse for keeping him at her side, he had crossed ever
and taken a seat by 'Lena, with whom he was soon in the midst of an
animated conversation, his surprise each moment increasing at the
depth of intellect she displayed, for the beauty of her mind was
equal to that of her person. Had it not been for the remembrance of
Carrie's insinuations, his admiration would have been complete. But
anything like coquetry he heartily despised, and one great secret of
his liking for Carrie, was her evident freedom from that fault. As
yet he had seen nothing to condemn in 'Lena's conduct. Wholly
unaffected, she talked with him as she would have talked with any
stranger, and still there was in her manner a certain coldness for
which he could not account.

"Perhaps she thinks me not worth the winning," thought he, and in
spite of his principles, he erelong found himself exerting all his
powers to please and interest her.

About tea-time, Captain Atherton rode into the yard, and
simultaneously with his arrival, Mr. Everett came also. Immediately
remembering what he had heard, Durward, in his eagerness to watch
'Lena, failed to note the crimson flush on Anna's usually pale cheek,
as Malcolm bent over her with his low-spoken, tender words of
welcome, and when the phthisicky captain, claiming the privilege of
an old friend, kissed the blushing Anna, Durward in his blindness
attributed the scornful expression of 'Lena's face to a feeling of
unwillingness that any save herself should share the attentions even
of the captain! And in this impression he was erelong confirmed.